§ 42. Mr. Ellisasked the Postmaster-General if he is satisfied with the efficiency of the telephone service available in Bristol, as compared with other large cities; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. StonehouseThe operator service in Bristol compares favourably with that in other large provincial cities but the automatic telephone service showed signs of worsening during the last few months of 1968. When our checks indicated this trend, special measures were initiated and an improvement is already apparent.
§ Mr. EllisWill my right hon. Friend make the facts and details available? This is in no way a criticism but at least we should like to know how the service compares at any given time in cases like misdialling percentages, the frequency of overloaded lines, and so forth, so that we could make a realistic assessment?
§ Mr. StonehouseThe results achieved so far are good. At the moment, the success rate for local calls is 97 per cent. and it is 89 per cent. for S.T.D. calls. That is a good achievement.