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The UK telephone numbering plan, also known as the National Numbering Plan, is regulated by the Office of Communications(Ofcom), which replaced the Office of Telecommunications (Oftel) in 2003.
The telephone service in the United Kingdom was originally provided by local city councils, until in 1912 all except the telephone service of Kingston-upon-Hull, Yorkshire, were bought out by the Post Office. Post Office Telephones also operated telephone services in the Channel Islands (Jersey and Guernsey), and the Isle of Man, until 1969, when the Islands took over responsibility for their own postal and telephone services.
Post Office Telephones was reorganised in the early 1970s as British Telecommunications (British Telecom, or BT), and was one of the first nationalised industries to be privatised by the Conservative government in the mid-1980s. The Hull Telephone Department was itself sold by Hull City Council as Kingston Communications in the late 1990s.
Area codes were first introduced in 1958, allowing a caller to call another telephone direct instead of via a manual telephone exchange, a process known as Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD), although the process was not completed until 1979. The four-digit codes were originally assigned based on the first three letters of the respective place's name and the corresponding numbers on a telephone keypad. For example Aylesbury was given the STD code 0296, where the letter A can be found on the number 2, the letter Y on the number 9 and the letter L on the number 6. However as more and more places were given STD codes this system became unworkable. The use of alphabetic exchange (area) codes was abandoned in the 1960s.
Until the late 1980s, calls to Dublin in the Republic of Ireland were made using the code 0001. This was discontinued, so that all calls to the Republic from the UK had to be dialled in the international format using the international access code (since 1995 00) and country code (353).
However, calls from Northern Ireland to the Republic continue to be charged at UK national or local rates.
The Director system was put in place in six cities, including London, where only a 2 or 3 digit code was used for the city, followed by a 3 digit code, represented by letters, to identify the local exchange. These were
In May 1990, the growth in demand for phone numbers in London caused the London area,to be split:
On 'PhONE Day', April 16, 1995, the digit '1' was inserted into area codes, for example, central London's 071 became 0171. This was with a view to reorganising the numbering plan, so that the first two digits would indicate the type of service called:
The international access code also changed on 'PhONE Day', from 010 to 00. Five new area codes were introduced for cities that were running low on phone numbers - and a digit was prepended to each number.
On April 22, 2000, the second phase of this came into operation. With 02* freed up by the previous reorganisation, it could be re-used again.
Also, all Northern Ireland numbers were moved into the single area code 028.
The leading '0' of an area code is called the trunk code. All calls within the same area code and geographically adjacent codes are local calls, more distant calls are charged at the national rate. Following the changes in 1995, 2000 and 2001, the numbering range in use is as follows:
The 0500 range was previously used for some freephone services, of which some remain,
e.g., 0500 909693 the phone-in number for BBC Radio Five Live.
The Crown Dependencies of Jersey Guernsey, and the Isle of Man continue to participate in the UK's numbering plan, using the following numbering ranges:
On the Isle of Man, both fixed and mobile phone numbers can be dialled locally in the six-digit format.
Some UK telephone companies may charge more than their normal geographic National rate for calls to fixed line phones in these Crown Dependencies
Ofcom has also reserved certain number ranges for use in television dramas and films, so as to avoid the risk of people having their telephone numbers displayed, and receiving unwanted calls. This is similar to the use of fictitious telephone numbers in the United States with the digits '555'. These are known as 'drama numbers', and either use unused number ranges or area codes that have been withdrawn from use. For example, the area code 01632 is not in use, although 0632 was originally used for Newcastle upon Tyne until the late 1980s.
The few telephone numbers which are less than eleven digits long are mostly in the 0845 range, e.g. 0800 1111 the national ChildLine helpline, and 0845 4647 for NHS Direct medical advice. There are also codes for use with Caller ID, known in the UK as 'Caller Display':
The national emergency services call number is 999, although the international number 112 is also recognised. This can be used to contact the Police, Fire Service, Ambulance Service, Mountain Rescue, Coastguard or Cave Rescue.
The operator is obtained via 100, while directory enquiries, formerly 192 is now provided by different companies in the 118xxx range e.g. 118500, 11 88 88.
Most telephone companies offer a speaking clock service on 123.
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