for the last half hour my phone keeps ringing and when I pick up the phone it is just a beeping, when I hang up and pick up again it is still there.

it can last for up to 4-5 minutes everytime. there is no number on 1471, it is saying withheld number. is there anything I can do, it is so annoying

Could it be somebody trying to send a fax to you in error?

Its definately a fax machine!

Sounds like a fax machine, the beeping is to let you know it is a fax machine and waiting to get a response.

Some people share their line with voice calls and fax calls, the beeping is to let you know that it as a fax call and you can press start / go on your fax machine to receive the fax message.

However you don't have a fax machine to receive the message, so sounds like some one has inputted the wrong number, and their fax machine is set to retry several times on failure to send.