HC Deb 19 January 1972 vol 829 cc442-4
13. Mr. Booth

asked the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications if he will give a general direction to the Post Office to provide subscriber trunk dialling facilities in industrial towns of over 50,000 population in development areas.

Mr. Chataway

No, Sir. I understand from the Post Office that very few areas are still without S.T.D. facilities.

Mr. Booth

Is the Minister aware that Lister's works in Barrow has suffered up to 80 per cent. of its telephone calls being cut off? Is he aware, further, that this firm won the Queen's Award for exports and is having to operate under a serious handicap? Is it reasonable that a firm in a development area should be asked to pay a quarterly charge exceeding £100 to have two S.T.D. lines installed? Does not the right hon. Gentleman agree that the Barrow exchange is outdated, worn out and overloaded? Will he give priority to the installation of an S.T.D. system?

Mr. Chataway

These are management matters for the Post Office. But I am told that the Barrow exchange, which is one of the very few not on S.T.D., is to have its automatic exchange in operation by about the middle of 1973.

14. Mr. Kilfedder

asked the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications if he will issue a general direction to the Post Office to improve the efficiency of the accountancy system of the subscriber trunk dialling telephone service in the United Kingdom.

Mr. Chataway

No, Sir. This is a matter for the Post Office.

Mr. Kilfedder

Is my right hon. Friend aware that many people are concerned about the accuracy of their telephone bills and that too many subscribers wrongly accept them, relying on the accuracy of the bills provided by the Post Office? Is my right hon. Friend satisfied with the present situation and with the efficiency of the Post Office accounting system? To give one example within my own experience, a mistake was made by adding £30 to my London telephone bill last quarter. The explanation was that it had been due to a misreading of the meter. I wonder how many other subscribers have suffered in a similar way without questioning their bills.

Mr. Chataway

The Post Office has taken the precaution of telling me of the very unfortunate error in my hon. Friend's account. It assures me that a wide variety of checks are built into the billing processes to minimise error.

Mr. Crawshaw

Will the Minister at least look into this matter? Where, owing to the inefficiency of the S.T.D. system, it is necessary to ask the operator to put through a call, one is required to pay the full three-minute trunk call charge. Ought a subscriber to be penalised because the Post Office has been inefficient?

Mr. Chataway

I am sure that that is a point which will be taken into account, though the hon. Gentleman probably can envisage the kind of operational difficulties which might be involved in arranging for a three-minute call to be billed on a different basis. There is this assurance for any subscriber: that if he is dissatisfied with the system of billing or its operation, he can go to the users' council with his complaint.