London dialling code
It may seem innoccuous to most, but it REALLY grinds my gears to hear people give out their (London) phone number as beginning with 0207... or 0208....
There is only one dialling code for London, and it is 020. Nothing more, nothing less.
(i.charlius *Two Ronnies Theme*, Fri 1 Apr 2011, 17:16, 15 replies)

*clicks until mouse breaks*

( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Fri 1 Apr 2011, 17:23, closed)

Yeah. That is irrational. And pointless.
I will be sure to stick the 7 and 8s on in future.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Fri 1 Apr 2011, 17:24, closed)

True
But when I read out the phone number I tend to break it down into chunks, so

0207 ... ... makes perfect sense.
( rofl harris, Fri 1 Apr 2011, 17:25, closed)

no it doesn't, 0207 is meaningless
Why not break it into little chunks after the area code?
020 7xxx xxxx
or
020 8xxx xxxx

It's not fucking rocket science
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Fri 1 Apr 2011, 17:27, closed)

It doesn't matter that it's meaningless (well to me)
It's just a list of numbers, which is what people want when they ask for my number.
( rofl harris, Fri 1 Apr 2011, 17:30, closed)

I bet you break you postcode down into sector & district when you read out your address

( rofl harris, Fri 1 Apr 2011, 17:31, closed)

My postcode has two parts, with a gap in the middle
I read out the first part, then a brief pause, then the second part
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Fri 1 Apr 2011, 17:33, closed)

Except
that if you're in London, and making a call to another phone in London, you can omit the 020 - the dialling code - like you would do with any other dialling code in any other part of the country, and still get through. Thus proving that 020 is the one and only dialling code.
Rant far from over.
(i.charlius *Two Ronnies Theme*, Fri 1 Apr 2011, 17:29, closed)

^this is why I gave the OP a click.
We have a similar problem up here in Leeds. People who give the area code as 01132 for the main number, for example, then confuse the fuck out of the person they're speaking to by giving out another number as "the area code plus 3******".
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Fri 1 Apr 2011, 17:34, closed)

Isn't this just a hangover?
From the days when 0171 was for Inner London and 0181 for Outer? When BT orginally introduced the 020 codes, 0207 directly replaced 0171, and 0208 replaced 0181. They've blurred a lot since then, but that's where the confusion arises I reckon.

It's the new provincial habit of breaking up provincial dialling codes like they were in London that annoys me.

So you get people saying their mobile number is "079 9876 5431"

NO!!! It's 07998 765431 you tossbag!!
( shinyshinyscalp less a man, more a way of life, Fri 1 Apr 2011, 18:03, closed)

A concise, if a bit wordy, explanation
From the oracle of democratic knowledge:
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/020
(i.charlius *Two Ronnies Theme*, Fri 1 Apr 2011, 21:08, closed)

Try living in Northern Ireland. The area code here starts 028. I regularly give it to people from London who will insert a 0 without realising.

eg. Me - My number is 028 90 blah blah
Other person - 0208 90
Me No. It's 028 90 blah blah
Other person - 0208 90 blah blah
Me - Aaaaargh!

Don't get me started on people who quote me in euro for everything.
(bope, Fri 1 Apr 2011, 18:37, closed)

I agree
I recently got a london landline via Skype and I enjoy confusing people when I tell them my number is: 020 3xxx xxxx
BECAUSE 020 IS THE CODE YOU DUMMY!

There will be lots of new numbers with the 3 prefix instead of the 7 or 8 prefix. Will the stupid people explode with the confusion...?
( camp freddy well, would you look at that!, Fri 1 Apr 2011, 18:59, closed)

can I also add that people who read back my number to me
but put the gaps in different places to the way I gave it to them, thus making is sound like a different number, annoy and confuse me as well.
( camp freddy well, would you look at that!, Fri 1 Apr 2011, 19:05, closed)

I don't live in London
and I very rarely phone anyone in London so it always takes me by surprise when the dialling code isn't 01.
( Ramsay Tupper, Fri 1 Apr 2011, 19:02, closed)