The numbers game.

Whoever it is who runs the saynoto870.com website deserves a medal, but isn't it a scandal that such a site has to exist? For anyone not aware of what's going on - and has been going on for years now - when you ring a telephone number starting with 0870, you will be charged between two and three times more than to a normal non-local number, and part of what you pay will go to the company you are phoning! No surprise then that more often than not when you call such a number you have to spend time going through an automated menu, and then be put on hold before you finally speak to a person. The point is, of course, that it is in the interests of whoever you are calling to keep you on the line as long as possible - the longer you're on, the more money they make. How this was ever allowed to happen in the first place is an outrage, and even more outrageous is the fact that Ofcom, who are supposed to look after our interests, have spent years looking the other way, and even now, when they have finally grasped the nettle and decided to do something about it, nothing will change until at least 2008. What a disgrace!