The number’s up for police

District councillor Sean Shannon (Labour-Charford) said that the present use of 0845 numbers can cost mobile users up to 40p a minute.

"Some people have spent up to £12 reporting a crime. The 03 numbers charge 12p a minute for mobile users - a considerable saving."

Cllr Shannon added: "Those reporting crime should not be the ones to pay and charging 40p a minute penalises the good citizen and does not encourage people to report crimes. The unethical practice of making money out of those reporting crime should come to an abrupt end."

On January 16 the Labour group will be calling on Bromsgrove District Council to support a campaign to persuade the West Mercia Police Authority to remove 0845 numbers and have them replaced with 03 numbers.

A police spokesman said that officers were currently looking at introducing a new non-emergency telephone number, which would cost the same as making a local call from a landline or mobile phone.

"West Mercia Constabulary's non-emergency telephone number was introduced ten years ago. The cost of calling this number from a landline is around three pence a minute. However, charges from mobile phones do vary depending on the service provider, which unfortunately we cannot influence," said the spokesman She added that the decision to centralise the handling of all emergency and non-emergency calls was taken in 2001 following an extensive review into the way the force handles calls from the public.

All call centre operators are linked to a computerised mapping facility and caller line identification to enable them to pinpoint the location of calls and to respond to an emergency more rapidly. People wishing to contact their local policing officers can do so by emailing them or by calling a local telephone number and leaving a message. The contact details of all the local policing teams are available on the local policing section of the force website at www.westmercia.police.uk