asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the priority categories, if any, for immediate telephone installation.
Written Answers. - Telephone Service.
242.
The main categories to which priority is afforded are those listed in reply to a previous similar question on 7 June 1978 (Official Report, Vol. 307, col. 589).
Those in the priority categories are given precedence over applicants in the provision of service where the necessary cable, exchange terminations and so on are available, special steps being taken to provide service where the need for a telephone is clearly very compelling, such as for life and death services or organisations making an important contribution to the welfare of the community.
243.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the emergency measures, if any, which can be taken to ensure that a sufficient number of public phones are installed in a new housing estate where cabling work has not been undertaken.
In the normal way telephone kiosks are provided when the use likely to be made of them will warrant the cost of providing them. Exceptionally, in new housing estates where there is likely to be long delay in providing telephones, kiosks may be provided before the use likely to be made of them would justify their provision. The stage at which kiosks may be provided in housing estates on this basis is decided on the merits, taking into account such factors as the size of the estate and distance from existing kiosks, and the position is kept under review.
244.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will outline details of the procedure involved in determining and rectifying overcharges to telephone subscribers.
Before issue, accounts are compared with those for previous periods and if there is a marked variation, this is investigated by examination of the supporting data on which the account is based. Any errors found are corrected.
The procedure followed in cases where subscribers claim they are overcharged depends on the nature of the claim made. For example, if a subscriber claims that the rental or miscellaneous services charge is excessive, the rates applicable for the equipment supplied are checked and if there is an error, appropriate credit is allowed in the account.
If a subscriber indicates that he was without service for a period for which he was charged rental, the facts are established and a rebate is allowed, if warranted.
Where call charges are involved, the relevant tickets and the meter may be checked, and regard had to previous use and to any points advanced in the claim made by the subscriber. Departmental officials usually discuss such cases with subscribers and, where there is an element of doubt, the matter is resolved in the subscriber's favour.
245.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the system in operation to monitor the number of local telephone calls made by individual subscribers.
Local calls are recorded either on a ticket prepared for each call made through an operator or, in the case of calls made on the automatic system, on the subscriber's meter in the local exchange. The meter records one unit for a local call and a number of units depending upon distance and duration for trunk calls.