We have recently reported on Southeastern’s failure to implement the new Regulations outlawing expensive 0845 and premium numbers for customer service lines.  It turns out Network Rail also use expensive 0845 numbers – not only for customer service but also for emergencies.

The Network Rail website gives just an 0845 contact number for the company – and tells people to use it even to report emergencies.

Calling 0845 numbers can be much more expensive than calling land lines – as our study of Southeastern showed, they can be 10 times more expensive.   From a payphone 60p buys just 60 seconds to a 0845 number as opposed to half an hour to an ordinary one.

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Providing only 0845 or premium numbers for customer services lines as part of a contract is now outlawed by the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Payments) Regulations.  Many organisations have switched to equivalent 0345 numbers, which cost the same as a call to a land line.  OFCOM have ensured that any company with an 0845 xxx xxxx number can switch to an equivalent 0345 xxx xxxx one.

Passengers do not have a direct contract with Network Rail, so the new Regulations on customer service lines may not technically apply to them.  However, as a public body receiving around £4 billion a year from the taxpayer, using expensive numbers for a public helpline seems a sharp and unnecessary practice.

What is even more amazing is that if the public want to notify Network Rail of an emergency the company forces them to use the 0845 number as well:

For any emergencies on the railway 24 hours a day call our helpline on 08457114141 or the BTP on 0800405040 / emergency services on 999.

— Network Rail (@networkrail) October 2, 2014

Many would consider this doubly outrageous.