S.T.D. (Hansard, 1 February 1966)

§ Mr. Goodhart
asked the Postmaster-General if he will state the names of, and the relevant figures for, the five of the 56 telephone areas having the highest failure rate for the subscriber trunk dialling trunk calls and the five having the lowest failure rate for subscriber trunk dialling trunk calls.

§ Mr. Benn
The information requested by the hon. Member is contained in the following table:
201W

STD calls failing due to

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e)

Dialling Errors by Calling Customer Per cent. Plant Defects Per cent. Engaged^* Tone from all causes Per cent. No Reply by Called Customer Per cent. Total Per cent.

(b) The Five Best Telephone Areas†

Guildford … 7.5 9.7 18.3 6.3 41.8

Nottingham … 6.3 5.1 28.0 4.2 43.6

Leicester … 4.4 4.5 30.1 4.8 43.8

Oxford … 6.5 6.7 26.4 5.8 45.4

Middlesbrough … 10.7 9.6 26.2 4.1 50.6

(c) National Average

Calls via STD … 6.8 5.9 20.3 5.7 38.7

^* Combines engaged tone due to called customer engaged and to trunk lines engaged. Arrangements are being made to give separate indications of these two conditions, but until the necessary equipment alterations have been made it will not be practicable to give a reliable statistic for each condition separately.

† The list excludes the London Director System (i.e., that part of the London Region where telephone numbers at present consist of three letters and four figures), which is divided for administrative purposes into 8 Telephone Areas. The comparable figures for the London Director System are (a) 9.0 per cent., (b) 7.0 per cent., (c) 18.2 per cent., (d) 5.2 per cent., total 39.4 per cent.

§ Mr. Goodhart
asked the Postmaster-General what proportion of trunk calls dialled via subscriber trunk dialling during the last 12 months failed due to any reason attributable to the General Post Office; and if he will give the comparable figure for trunk calls made via an operator on auto-manual exchanges.

§ Mr. Benn
During the 12 months ended 31st December, 1965, 5.8 STD call attempts during the day period were recorded as ineffective because of defects in Post Office plant. I cannot supply a comparable figure for calls handled by automanual exchange operators, but it would be of the same order.

		STD calls failing due to
		(a)	(b)	(c)	(d)	(e)
		Dialling Errors by Calling Customer Per cent.	Plant Defects Per cent.	Engaged^* Tone from all causes Per cent.	No Reply by Called Customer Per cent.	Total Per cent.
(b) The Five Best Telephone Areas†
Guildford	…	7.5	9.7	18.3	6.3	41.8
Nottingham	…	6.3	5.1	28.0	4.2	43.6
Leicester	…	4.4	4.5	30.1	4.8	43.8
Oxford	…	6.5	6.7	26.4	5.8	45.4
Middlesbrough	…	10.7	9.6	26.2	4.1	50.6
(c) National Average
Calls via STD	…	6.8	5.9	20.3	5.7	38.7
^* Combines engaged tone due to called customer engaged and to trunk lines engaged. Arrangements are being made to give separate indications of these two conditions, but until the necessary equipment alterations have been made it will not be practicable to give a reliable statistic for each condition separately.
† The list excludes the London Director System (i.e., that part of the London Region where telephone numbers at present consist of three letters and four figures), which is divided for administrative purposes into 8 Telephone Areas. The comparable figures for the London Director System are (a) 9.0 per cent., (b) 7.0 per cent., (c) 18.2 per cent., (d) 5.2 per cent., total 39.4 per cent.