London phone numbers

[SoupDragon]

I've just been processing ticket applications for a PTA event and am sooo annoyed with the number of people who say their phone number is 0208 654 blah blah blah. No it's not. It's 020 8654....

Petty and pedantic, yes, but it's simply incorrect to put it as 0208.

Bah!

can't hear you, twig - nernernernernerner

Thing is, like one of the posts on that forum I linked to earlier, people have learned their numbers as xxx xxxx for years, if not decades - so they now just add 0207 or 0208 in front of that.

Our code here was 0200 followed by 2xxxx when we moved here. 0200 then became 01200, and then the number became 42xxxx, but I have some friends' numbers programmed in my head (pre-digital-phone-memory, obv) and I remember them as 0200 2xxxx and just insert the changes as I dial (only I don't dial, because they're in the mmemory on the phone, but if I had to, I could)

So what it's supposed to be is irrelevant in human circles

agree with WW. When we lived in London our phone number was 01 223 0917 (or something like that). When 01 was changed, it became either 0207 or 0208

ok, so I may have missed out a step or two- it's quite a while since i was a Londoner!

and why should Londoners have a 3 digit prefix, when the rest of us have to have at least 5 eh?

smiling to myself about answering phones along the lines of "Chesterfield 6443". I was taught that this was the "correct" way to answer the phone. rebellion was so easy in those days. the thrill of picking up the phone aged 11 and saying "hello". I remember it well.

smiling to myself about answering phones along the lines of "Chesterfield 6443". I was taught that this was the "correct" way to answer the phone. rebellion was so easy in those days. the thrill of picking up the phone aged 11 and saying "hello". I remember it well.

Technically, Tissy, I guess Londoners have a 7 digit prefix: 020, the 7 or 8 and the old 3 digit local exchange number followed by the 4 digit number.

When I was little, I used to think everyone said "1024" when answering the phone.Then I found out it was our phone number...

The majority of today's batch of forms got it wrong too. Together with a bunch who wrote their mobiles down as one long number [horror]

God I LOVE Mumsnet

I know lapin - it's great isn;t it. 100+ posts and 2 days on london codes. marvellous

There was another thread on this before

From Olivia's link:

WTF??????????????????????????????!!!!

Oh Olivia I didn't get to meet you at the party

(I wonder if Justine remembers hugging me - a lot )

I know it is supposed to be 020 8
but most people use 0208, and it has filtered through to both business and domestic numbers. I wouldn't be surprised if BT changed their minds too, such is the power of the wave engulfing them...You are now in the minority to use 020 8..The people have spoken! Up the revolution!

it is soooooooo 020 7 or 020 8. what are you non-londoners thinking of?! .

to clarify...

Wendy - nitpicker - yes I meant 020 8xxx xxxx!!

Lyra - no, not all of Kent is a London Borough ! Just the London Borough of Bexley and London Borough of Bromley.

Erm, Lapin, I did meet you - I took your photo!

Cheek! I was very sober!

Oh that was YOU! (thank you for the picture, by the way - yes that is me!)

Another pedant alert: it's not BT who decideds the number ranges, it's OFCOM.

And it's not the case that "everywhere else" has a five digit prefix, followed by a longer single number.

Glasgow (and I think the other big cities - Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham) has a four digit prefix, 0141, followed by a 3 digit local code and a four digit "home" number. I think in the days of the old exchanges, you could even have avoided using the local code, if you were ringing within that locality, but nowadays wherever you are in Glasgow, all you need to ring is the xxx yyyy.

WW, Londoners don't want three-digit mobile codes, that would just be mad.
We didn't particularly want a three-digit landline code either but that was what was given to us and we will use it correctly.

When one uses a London landline one does not need to dial 020. One just dials the other eight numbers, at the moment they start with either 7 or 8. Ergo, the London code is 020. Soon enough there will be other London numbers starting with neither 7 nor 8, containing eight digits.
Mobile numbers are a different subject.

"most people use 0208.... I wouldn't be surprised if BT changed their minds too"

Er, no they won't because it's wrong. The area code is 020, the phone number is 8xxx xxxx. Hence the number is 020 8XXX XXXX (or London 8XXXXXXX I guess ).

The gripe with mobile numbers doesn't actually matter at all since the whole number is the phone number. You can write it how you like and it will still be right. It's just irritating with mobiles, not plainly wrong like the London numbers.

I have come late to this thread, but it really gets me too. I am on the side of the OP. It's 020 8XXX XXXX. If you tried to call my house from down the road and just dialled XXX XXXX, you would get the error tone. It does not work as a number, therefore it is not right. 8XXX XXXX is my number.

So there .

We might have a short dialling code, but we make up for it with a long local number. My parents are outside Bristol and have a dialling code of 5 digits, followed by a six digit local number. All in, 11 digits just like mine...

i agree. it's just wrong!

This annoys me about Bristol too

The prexi for Brizzle is 0117, and then is normally 9xx xxxx or 3xx xxxx

The amount of peole who put 01179 xx xxxx makes me shudder

It's justy wrong.