Reply to post: Re: As I've said before

Re: As I've said before

I'm getting a strong sense of deja vu here, such discussions were common just after the last London area number changes.

Here is a brief history of London number changes. This is from memory, so details may be out.

When I was very young London phone numbers were of the form Exchange Name xxxx. For instance Bowes Park 9283, or Whitehall 1212. Within the exchange you could just dial the last four digits (I think).

The along came Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD - no, not that sort). London now had all-figure numbering so the old exchange names were replaced with three letter codes. These were often, but not always, the numbers on the dial corresponding to the first three letters of the old exchange name. So ABBey becamse 222 and ENField became 363, but Bowes Park did not fit the pattern and became 888. London now acquired an STD code, 01, that was needed to call it from anywhere outside.

You now needed to dial all seven local digits (but not the 01) to make an call wholly within the 01 area.

The number of lines grew and a temporary solution was needed to avoid running out of numbers, so the London area was split into inner Londion (071) and outer London (081). Within each of these you still only needed to dial the last seven digits, so to call 081 363 3629 from 081 888 9223 you'd omit the 081 (and it was commonly believed that not to do so would cost more). But calling from, say outer London to inner London you had to use all 11 digits: to call London Transport from, say, Croydon you needed to dial 0171 222 1234.

Along came PhoneDay. 071 became 0171, 081 became 0181 but nothing else changed so far as London was concerned.

Later still there was another rejig. London was reunified into a new area code, 020. Those who had been in 0171 had a 7 prefixed onto their numbers, and those with 0181 had an 8. But that 7 and 8 formed part of the locally-significant number. The area code was, and remains, 020.

It was made clear (to those who listened) at the time that BT no longer considered there to be a geographical distinction between 020 7 and 020 8, the distinction was purely historic, and they would introduce new London numbers that did not start with 7 or 8 (e.g. 3).

Once again you could call any London number using just the local part, i.e. the final 8 digits, usually beginning with 7 or 8. But the message never really got home. The split had got people used to dialling the full national number, and the rise of mobiles, which always require the full number, means that local dialling is almost extinct.

Historically when writing London numbers down the first space was always after the area (STD) code, so numbers went from 01 222 1234 to 071 222 1234 to 0171 222 1234 until we reach 020 7222 1234.

The second space was after the old local 'exchange' part, which has become obsolete but the gap aids readability and memorability.

It's only in the last few years that the insidious 0207 etc. has reared its ill-informed head.