§ 2. Mr. Norman Lamontasked the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications if he will ascertain on what basis the Post Office estimates that only 8.7 per 592 cent. of subscriber trunk dialling calls and 3.4 per cent. of local calls are connected inaccurately or unsuccessfully.
§ Sir J. EdenThese estimates which appear in the Post Office's Annual Report are its direct responsibility.
§ Mr. LamontIs my right hon. Friend aware that those figures are not the general experience of the public and are generally disbelieved? Is he aware of the figures published in The Times by Mr. R. J. Callow last year showing a different result? If these figures are so inaccurate, what confidence can the public have in the charging meters?
§ Sir J. EdenPossibly one of the difficulties—and I speak also as an individual member of the public—is that when one is not connected it may be for a number of different reasons. It could be due to the fact that the line is engaged, that there is no reply or that one has misdialled.
§ Mr. KaufmanIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that both the 8.7 per cent, and the 3.4 per cent. consist entirely of calls attempted by myself? When I attempt to make a telephone call, I amfar more likely to get a strange howling noise, an unaccountable engaged tone or total silence, with an occasional direct connection. Would the right hon. Gentleman attend to this, because my experience is duplicated millions of times?
§ Sir J. EdenThe sounds which the hon. Gentleman hears when he seeks to make a telephone call may have something to do with the anticipatory powers of the recipient.