020 for London
Okay, I have decided that I am officially sad… (stop the sniggering in the back, not everybody knows me as well as you). I am driven to write about telephone numbers, specifically London numbers. The London phone (STD) code has changed over the years from the iconic ‘01′ to 020 7/8 - there is a great history of the changes to the codes on Wikipedia, it also confirms my bugbear.
Get on with it you say, what is your issue? the incorrect usage of 0207 / 0208 xxx xxxx as opposed to 020 7xxx xxx or 020 8xxx xxxx. What’s the big issue, I hear you say…well if you are in London you only need to dial the 7/8xxx xxxx element, this takes an unnecessary degree of mental translation if written as 0207/8.
I currently travel on the train past a new development where in two metre high lettering the telephone number is 0207 xxx xxxx. I had also been annoyed for a while about Computer Cabs, this is a large black cab (taxi) company who have 0207 908 0207 on their cabs, it took me a while to realise that the reason was that the number was symmetrical ‘0207′ and therefore easy to remember - ironically on their website it is shown (correctly) as 020 7908 0207…