HC Deb 19 February 1964 vol 689 cc1188-9
26. Captain Orr

asked the Postmaster-General when he expects subscriber trunk dialling to begin in Banbridge, County Down.

The Assistant Postmaster-General (Mr. Ray Mawby)

My right hon. Friend plans to introduce subscriber trunk dialling at 13anbridge during 1967.

Captain Orr

Why is the provision of this service so slow in Banbridge? Will my hon. Friend bear in mind that the head postmastership there has been recently downgraded and that it is important that the people of this community should not feel that they are being victimised?

Mr. Mawby

I assure my hon. and gallant Friend that there is no question of victimisation. As he knows, Banbridge is already an automatic exchange and the reason why this service cannot be provided earlier is that we cannot provide subscriber trunk dialling at Banbridge until additional switching equipment has been installed at the Portadown exchange. This will be completed in 1967.

Mr. Lipton

Is the Assistant Postmaster-General aware that people in a number of districts do not want subscriber trunk dialling because it costs the average subscriber more to make his local calls than has been the case hitherto? The hon. Gentleman need not worry about areas which passionately desire to have this service. He can give them priority and let the other people wait, because they will be glad to do so.

Mr. Mawby

The hon. Member is sadly misinformed if he believes that that is the general impression. In fact, exactly the opposite is the case. If people are reasonably brief in their telephone conversations, they are finding that they are saving a great deal of money in making the same number of calls under subscriber trunk dialling than under the old timed system.