Changing the prefix opens up more numbers as the old prefix can be used for something else (I think).

0181 811 81 81 used to be Going Live I think - definatly one of the BBC shows though.


There are still loads of 0602 numbers round here, dispite 0115 9xxx xxx being brought in over a decade ago. Most people do write 0115 9xxx xxx though (perhaps the widespread use of 0115 8xxx xxx [originally Diamond Cable] has helped here)

As for changing the prefixes - back in 1995 Preston had the 0772 STD code, this was changed to 01772 with all local numbers made 6 digits (the remaining 5 digit ones were prefixed with 2). This mean that 0772 could then be used (with 7 digit "local" numbers) by Cellnet for their mobile customers. Alas, the growth of the city and demands for phone lines has mean that 01772 is now running out of numbers so will likly to be one of the numbers to change next time round.

ISTR that 07XXX numbers that arn't mobile numbers are also to move to make costs more transparent to "citizen consumers".

As Inkblot says, it does matter for people dialling locally - the space shows you where you have to start dialling from.

I am aware of that. I work in London and had an 020 7xxx xxxx home number until I moved house quite recently.

I was responding to ninja100 and explaining how come its easier to move the 7 away from the 020.
It is because it helps with the number pattern - 4 sets of 2 is very easy to recite. But also because you can forget the 020 when dialling locally - I really have to think when I dial my friends or a company in Londion from my home because I'm so used to just dialling 8 digits.

I guess it helps these days that you need to remember the code for dialling from mobiles, but still...

I didn't mean to suggest you're ignorant - just that there's a "real" reason for having the break after the 020 rather than a "hypothetical" one.

lol thats made my day!!! Sounds like you're a bit like me!!

As for 020 3, yes it's entirely random and not based on area like 020 7 & 020 8, but there isn't many of them at the moment.

What difference does it make? You don't dial a space so it doesn't really matter where it is.

London stopped having an inner and outer London code when it changed to 020 a handful of years back. It just happens that you can tell if a number is more likely to be inner or outer London from the 7 or 8 of the number, but as you're finding with the 3 it doesn't matter.

When 071 and 081 came into play originally, a lot of it was snobbery about which code you went in. Remember the inner and outer London codes were relatively short lived - it was 01 for London in 1990, then 020 came in back in 2000, so really it was only for 10 years that you had an inner and outer London code.

(This was also the butt of many jokes at the time, for instance if you watch the old Drop The Dead Donkey programmes people joke about subsidance being so bad if it gets any worse in their area their phone code will change from 071 to 081).

As for the info from the OP on this thread though - there are NO plans for mass changes in the UK numbering plan at this time. Any changes will be announced on the Ofcom website, so I think you've been misinformed.

God, I'm glad someone else remembers that, I was getting worried!

That old Inner and Outer chesnut was such a pile of crap wasn't it ? I mean I remember the snobbery over it , I remember the BBC comedy Birds of a Feather showed the snobby Dorien paying to have an 071 number in Chigwell .

But the way BT worked it was so stupid , Hammersmith was classed as Outer London yet Bermondsey central London , there was no rhyme nor reason to it ( well from my view anyway )

But surely they cannot be changing numbers again , in London when it went in 1990 to 071/081 there was a big lauch etc , and we were all set up for the future, apparently . Then in 1995 we had 01714 / 0181 and then again in 200 we went to 020.

If there is to be another code change has BT thought about the cost this passes to business ? they are a private company these days but surely if they insist on inflicting these changes to the country they should also be prepared to contribute to the cost that it is incurred.

Its is not cheap to change your shop front signage , letterheads , business cards and all the ads you have in different places.

What I wonder will the code be this time if they do change ?

An interesting quote I found from Mr Cruickshamk the Director of Oftel as it was in 1995 about the code changes to 01

In March 1995, Mr Cruickshank, shortly before PhONEday freed eight billion new numbers, said: "Once we've put '1' in front of all the present numbers in the UK, no one who has such a number will have to change again during their lifetime."

A year later in 1996 it was announced that by 1999 we would be preparing for the next code change , a very short lifetime wasn't it ?

The sole reason that it is better to write it the second way is that that is the correct way of writing it!

You see, if you are in the 020 area (i.e. anywhere in London) you can call the number by omitting the 020 and just dialling the 8 digits at the end. Also, if you are giving your number out to a London person (like, when I call a cab or a takeaway/delivery), I only have to give them the last 8 digits.

It mildly irritates me when people refuse to write it correctly.

It does matter if you're dialling locally. Read the rest of the thread.

Doesnt London have 020 3 as well now?

Very probably. The code is 020 and then an 8 digit number , these will eventually be non specific . It is just when they changed over it was probably easier technically and for people for BT to say 0171 becomes 020 7******* and 0181 becomes 020 8*******. But as time goes by and more numbers are issued then the old 7 for central and 8 for outer will be a thing of the past really.

Never mind that, the old Swap Shop number of 01 811 8055 is forever etched in my brain!

If I've got the right end of the stick you Londoners don't need to worry* - only cities that have ran out of numbers (Preston, Stoke-On-Trent and a handful of others) and some none mobile/landline numbers (e.g. Find Me Anywhere) will be changing - i.e. some people will have a second change since 1995. i.e. 0772 974 974 -> 01772 974 974-> (say) 037 2974 974


* You've still got 020 2, 020 4, 020 5, 020 6 and 020 9 to go...

I know what you're getting at - but this is the way my brain saw it...(and yes...I know I'm no rocket scientist! )

Anyway, throughout all the London prefix changes, my actual telephone number always remained 110 7000.

Only the prefix changed

01 110 7000
171 110 7000
0171 110 7000

....and all was dandy

...until the last change that is.

Suddenly they wanted me to add a 7 to my number

020 7110 7000

However, with all the prefix changes that had gone on in the past (and potential prefix changes in the future) my brain found it easier to keep my telephone number intact - as it always had - and cite the prefix seperately i.e.

0207 110 7000

So, in effect, my reluctance is based on 'habit'. I am sure this is true for many others. Also the last campaign to change the numbers did not stress enough that my actual telephone number was changing...I thought it was all about prefixes (perhaps again due to habit).

It will be interesting to see how the prefix/numbers are changing again....does anyone know?

From what I can gather those places that will change have actully had the codes allocated to them for quite some time but it was left to area concernd to decide when to change over , ie when they ran out of numbers or before.

Hopefully London will not change , it may be those places second change , London has had 3 so far , its a right pain in the proverbial ! I sympathise especially with the businesses who have to change, it does cost .

There isn't going to be any changes to Geographical numbers.

The only plans they have are:

Move 070 numbers to the 06 range. This is to prevent confusion between 070-personal numbers and 07-mobile and paging numbers.

Introduce an 03 national number which will enable companies to use a national number like 0845/0870 to be charged to the caller at the geographical rate. The owners of 03 number will not get any commision.

0871- plans to migrate this to a 090 number.

0844,0845 and 0870 numbers- Unknown at present as Ofcom are deciding whether or not to change this.

0500,0800 and 0808- No changes

Yes, but they couldn't have gone straight from 071 to 020 in one step. Phoneday turned out to be a necessary interim step.

This is because prior to Phoneday '0208', '0207' and '0203' were dialling codes, if they hadn't have changed to 01208, 01207 and 01203 the London '020' code wouldn't have been possible

Incidently when the new 020 3 prefix was announced a newspaper in coventry made a big fuss because 'London was stealing coventry's phone code'.

And some of 020 1... obvisouly some of that range are out of bounds due to special numbers such as 112, 118. 150, 100.

There are other restictions especially with numbers containing '999' and '112'. Imagine having a phone number: 020 8112 xxxx - not only would it have not been allowed pre-020 but these days if someone wrote it as 0208 112 xxxx then there could be problems

There is an 020 0xxx xxxx code, but this isn't designed for direct dialling because you can't omit the 020 if you're in London (the system would think it's a trunk call). It's used for diversion of 0870, 0845 etc lines and phone lines that are only used for dialling out

yup mine too

Yeah well London is growing all the time and many businesses have taken 0171 and 0181 numbers which was why London has had so many changes. In 1999 they introduced 0207 and 0208,in 2000 they introduced the new local dialling system which replaced the seven digit telephone numbers with eight digit numbers and in 2005 introduced 0203 to avoid a number change.

The local dialling system is still confusing. In some areas such as Hayes/Uxbridge, in one street, one side could be 0208 and the other side can be 01895 and still be classed as a local call. Although, you cannot use local dialling so you have to call 020-8000-0000 from 01895-000-000 otherwise if you use local dialing, you will be calling 800-000.

This is also the same for Leicster,Tamworth and Birmingham. (0121,01827 and 0116) they are all classed as local between them.

I remember when I was a kid - 0207 was the code for Stanley (in Co. Durham)
Then it became 02072 - XXXXX
Then they added a '1' and shifted the last 2 onto the number - 01207 - 2XXXXX
Now it's part of Tyneside's 0191 - XXX XXXX

I can also remeber (not so long ago) when you could dial onto a nearby exchange with only a 2 digit code
For example - nearby Bishop Auckland is part of the Wearside 01388 code
But it wasn't that long ago that we could dial 94 from here (7 miles away) instead of the full 01388

Ironically - I dialled that number the other day to see if it was still live - it was - although it's now 020 8811 8055.... not quite as catchy is it?

No-one answered

Anyway, I agree totally... it gets on my wick when numbers are not in the correct format.

Working with mobiles, it winds me up even more when people think:

07968 123456

should be:

0796 812 3456

I make great point of writing 07968 123456 with a massive gap in the middle, and quoting their number back in correct format. Pedantic I know but it gets it off my chest

Simon