Telephone numbers circa 1972

[harrym1byt]

I would add that I have just phoned 01132 672350 and the number rang, so it still exists (I didn't speak to anyone). If you want information, it is possible that the same people have the same number which they have had since 1972. You could give it a try ( unless this is your own current phone number).

I have tried this number every day now. It could be they see an international number on caller ID and think it's some sales person, or debt collector even.

If anyone has the time to call from a local number and see if they get a response, and let them know why a strange number from the States is trying to contact them I would appreciate it

Of course - they might be on holiday

I have just tried it from a local number - no reply and eventually it timed out as no answer.

[gchq]

I have just tried it from a local number - no reply and eventually it timed out as no answer.

Thank you.

I have been trying as well

[Chrism]

I would add that I have just phoned 01132 672350 and the number rang, so it still exists (I didn't speak to anyone). If you want information, it is possible that the same people have the same number which they have had since 1972. You could give it a try ( unless this is your own current phone number).

I have tried this number every day now. It could be they see an international number on caller ID and think it's some sales person, or debt collector even.

If anyone has the time to call from a local number and see if they get a response, and let them know why a strange number from the States is trying to contact them I would appreciate it

Of course - they might be on holiday

I have just tried it from a local number - no reply and eventually it timed out as no answer.

Some people have a landline, for internet access, but don't use it cos of cold callers etc etc. We do that. That's maybe why there's no answer.

[gchq]

I'm thinking that BT (or whatever they may have morphed into these days since Buzby) will be able to cross-reference it from 1972... This whole saga is hitting soooooooo many brick walls it's not funny!

If anyone has a contact at BT - any contact that can start the ball rolling in some direction?

[mhoulden]

BT staff won't do a reverse lookup. It would be a serious breach of confidentiality.

[jma]

The 999 operators used to be the crack troops of the GPO. They filtered out many nuisance calls and provided a lot of help with the genuine ones, especially when, as is so often the case, the caller may be frightened, in danger, injured, out of breath or intoxicated or have little idea where they were ringing from if it was a kiosk etc. Silent and discontinued calls were always a problem: genuine or hoax? As it was a physical connection, the operator could provide the address for a reverse search of the number and keep the line open while the emergency services attended. In the mid-1970s, I arrested a hoax bomb caller in that way.

When digital technology was being increasingly used - late 1980s - I was working at the West Yorkshire Police force control room (AKA farce control) at The Tyrls in central Bradford. A member of staff there had taken a "heavy breathing" call. With invaluable help from the 999 operator she sent police, who found that a woman had killed herself by dousing herself in petrol and setting it alight. Her husband had dashed in and in his frantic attempts to save her had inhaled hot gases, so he could not speak when calling 999.

I visited the super-modern BT exchange in Leeds to see the new kit, and the old 999 room in the basement, where the Leeds area 999s were the last to be converted. The operators worked in groups of six on Antiques Road Show equipment, and by then only one bay of six switchboards was still in use.

Around that time, in the middle of the night, we had a silent 999 and the BT refused a reverse search. As duty officer, I ended up speaking to their supervisor and they were only prepared to release the information on the request of a police superintendent: thin on the ground in the middle of the night. I don't know what planning for this there had been but 0200 isn't the best time for something like this.

Around that time, mobile phones were becoming more common and discontinued 999s increased. The system was still developing and we got calls from all over the country which had been picked up at a receiver somewhere in West Yorkshire. I moved on to another posting so I don't know how the data protection problems were resolved: I suspect everybody stopped bothering.

[gchq]

BT staff won't do a reverse lookup. It would be a serious breach of confidentiality.

I understand that they cannot do that for current subscribers - but for 40 years old records?

[jma]

BT staff won't do a reverse lookup. It would be a serious breach of confidentiality.

I understand that they cannot do that for current subscribers - but for 40 years old records?

We've lived here since 1975 and several of our neighbours have been here since around 1970

[billy the buffalo]

You can tell from the first 3 digits of the number as to which is it home exchange

[gchq]

You can tell from the first 3 digits of the number as to which is it home exchange

...and that home exchange is?

I did notice that a lot of numbers that start the same way were in Bramhope.