Joyce presses National Park on 0845 number

Joyce Watson AM has welcomed Pembrokeshire Coast National Park’s decision to stop advertising its 0845 number.
The Mid and West AM last month wrote to chief executive Tegryn Jones to query the park authority’s use of a business rate number. She wrote:
“The organisation’s web page states that: “Calls will cost 3 pence per minute plus your telephone company’s access charge.
“I would appreciate an explanation as to why Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority operates a business rate phone number. I would also be grateful if you would provide figures to show how much revenue it generates”.
Mrs Watson explained:
“I contacted the authority on a constituency matter and noticed the 0845 number. A quick bit of research revealed that of the 14 national parks in England, Wales and Scotland, Pembrokeshire Coast was the only one to do so. I therefore asked for an explanation.”
Mr Jones assured the Labour AM that although the authority had not made money from the number, it would from now on promote its 01646 number instead. Here is his written response:
“The Authority adopted the 0845 number as a non- geographic number when we moved offices to Pembroke Dock in 2004. This meant that calls from anywhere in the UK were treated as local calls. We have never charged any premium on the 0845 number and never received any income from it.
“Since then telecom companies have introduced a variety of call packages, which means that there is no longer a benefit in adopting this approach.
“In view of this we have decided to stop advertising the 0845 number and instead promote a 01646 number. The contact details on our web site has been changed and we will change the contact details on all hard copy publications as we re-design and replace them. For the time being we will keep the 0845 number however I assume that a reducing number of people will use it as they move to using the 01646 number which most will be able to access free of charge as part of their call packages.”