If the news release by Windsor telecom is seen to be true then the issues must be sorted out before the news is released officially.

With reference to points made above, including my own latest posting (briefly):

Virgin Media - Its actual rates are published.

Enforcement - The Ofcom statement fully explains that that charging is a matter to be resolved by agreement between the Home Office and the Telcos. Such an agreement would be no less enforceable than any Ofcom regulation.

Consumer Choice - A single charge would enable consumers to choose whichever telephone service provider they wish, whilst citizens retain access to the Police service on equal terms - insofar as the Police have any control over the costs they incur. Any "free to caller" service is no less undermining of the principle of consumer choice. The analogy with travel costs is perfectly fair.

Out of area contact - "Incident room" numbers and direct lines for specific functions would doubtless remain. Whether each local service would retain a general non-emergency contact number of its own remains to be seen. One must assume that many calls to 101 would involve co-ordinated response across forces. The possibility of calls being handled by "shared service" call centres may lie behind this - this is why we moved from calls being directed to central numbers for each force, rather than individual stations.

bazzerfewi wrote on Mar 26^th, 2011 at 6:43pm:

I referred to "Out of Area" - how on earth does a 0114 number connect one to the Metropolitan Police?

Should 0114 2 202020 be listed as an alternative to 0300 123 1212?

There was talk of adjacent police services merging - but I do not recall any suggestion of the Met merging with South Yorkshire

All that is being suggested is that a number which has limited application at present MAY be adopted throughout England over the coming months / years. There is no suggestion that existing advertised services have stopped working.

I contacted Sheffield because I knew the number and because it was one of the areas listed for the 101 number.

O K not metropolitan "South Yorkshire"

In any event I was only stating that the 0114 2202020 number was still live

I have never had to contact the local police so I don't suppose that I will use the number anyway, it is just that I hate the fact that the telco's will be making money out of the call that is may grienance

SilentCallsVictim wrote on Mar 26^th, 2011 at 12:19pm:

As the announcement by Windsor has now been withdrawn it is probably reasonable to assume that work is going on very much as stated but that the time for a public announcement has not yet arrived. It would be very important that nothing be said publicly until all of the details had been finalised so that clear information about the service could be made available to the public.

Part of the objective has to be to help police services to refocus the efforts of warranted officers on roles where they can be most effective - essentially "on the street". If that means moving them away from desks answering telephone calls, so that these can be taken in call centres, then so be it. That is not to say that the quality of service from the call centre MUST be poor.

I see three points as being essential to justify a charge, probably 10p per call, including VAT.

• It must be shown that the areas where the 101 service has been in use have experienced a much lower proportion of nuisance calls than 999 and that this can be fairly attributed to the call not being free to caller.
• The fee must be modest and the same for all callers, regardless of the type of telephone service, terms of contract etc.
• The net revenue from all call charges must be negative after telephone companies have retained their reasonable costs.

I believe that if callers can understand that they are only paying for the costs of the telephone call connection, as we are used to - not the costs of the Police - but are doing so in a way that is fair for all citizens, giving access to the Police at equal cost, then it may be found acceptable.

There is a tricky social issue with leaving people to pay the cost of a standard call, because this is generally greatest for those of least means. I am ready to accept this for access to non-emergency NHS services. The types of calls that will go to 101, including all reporting of crime that is no longer being committed, enable me to see this is a different light.

I would personally rather see the money for the 101 telephone service raised through general taxation, but as this approach would not have found favour with those who supported the previous government, let alone the current government, I am prepared to accept that this is not what people want.


If anyone wants the truth of this dragged out into the public domain before those planning to launch it are ready to make an announcement, I suggest that they invite their MP to ask a question of the Home Secretary. I would think this likely to produce something formal, but suitably qualified.

Our local police station "Sheffield" can still be contacted on the local number and it is listed as one of the stations that are part of the 101 trials, with a bit of look the 0114 number may stay in use.

I have had a reply back form Dan Jarvis MP and he is raising the 101 issue in parliament - I will await the outcome and post the reply

idb wrote on Mar 30^th, 2011 at 1:29pm:


A very good point, people often have to call English Police Forces from abroad for a whole host of reasons. Like you, I am sure that 0044 101 etc will not get you through.