§ 2.46 p.m.
§ Lord Parry asked Her Majesty's Government:
§ Whether they know of any reason why the British Telecommunication charge card cannot be used for calls from Canada to the United Kingdom.
§ The Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Hesketh)My Lords, I understand that, although there has been some disruption to the operation of the charge card service in Canada, it is possible to use the service to make calls to the UK via the UK-direct service. This will connect customers directly to a UK operator free of charge.
§ Lord ParryMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for that Answer, delivered at characteristic machine-gun speed. Will he accept that since such a situation has existed for three months, card holders planning to go to Canada may like to know that they will have difficulty in meeting the charges which they must incur when telephoning home?
§ Lord HeskethMy Lords, that will not be the case if they use the UK-direct service. However, I shall draw the noble Lord's Question to the attention of British Telecom.
§ Lord ParryMy Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Lord for slowing down his utterance.