§ Mr. Onslowasked the Postmaster-General (1) what is his current estimate of the percentage of subscriber trunk dialling calls attempted from the Guild-ford area between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. which fail because lines from Guildford are engaged:
(2) what is his current estimate of the percentage of subscriber trunk dialling calls from the Guildford telephone area which fail by reason of plant defects.
§ Mr. Joseph SlaterDuring October, 0.9 per cent. calls failed because trunk lines from the Guildford area were engaged, and 4.8 per cent. because of plant defects. The congestion which built up during the summer has now been greatly eased by an extensive programme of major works in the area. The five trunk centres are being extended at a cost in excess of £1 million enabling over 1,000 additional trunk circuits to be provided. Merging this new plant into the system is a complex operation which is bound at times to cause some temporary disturbance to the service, but in the last few months there has been a progressive reduction in the percentage of calls failing due to the Post Office.