Telephone Service (Shared Lines)

HC Deb 29 March 1956 vol 550 c240W

62. Mr. Russell

asked the Postmaster-General his methods of ensuring that local calls made on party lines are charged to the correct subscriber.

Mr. Alport

The majority of shared-service subscribers on automatic exchanges have separate meters, and local calls are recorded automatically against the correct line. When the two subscribers share one meter, one of them, in accordance with Regulation 5 (2) of the Telephone Regulations, 1954, accepts responsibility for the whole local call account, making a settlement with his sharing partner. On manual exchanges calls are made through an operator, who asks the caller his number.