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Hermitcrab · 13th May 2020, 5:05 am

Thanks Pellseinydd for that comprehensive information about Harewood exchange!

In the Leeds telephone area where I used to live, Wakefield had the STD code 0924 and was obtained by dialling 97 from Leeds. Some other exchanges such as Dewsbury and Batley were also 0924, but were obtained by the single-digit code 9 from Leeds: these numbers began with 4 so the equipment would have recognised it as a Dewsbury or Batley number, rather than a Wakefield number, as soon as you dialled 94.

One day I wondered what would happen if you dialled 97 for Dewsbury instead of 9. I had occasion to ring a Dewsbury number and tried this, it worked and would have been charged the same, but was rather a pointless exercise as all I had done was dialled one more digit than necessary!

The Post Office often included a caveat in their Dialling Code Booklets: "Only codes which are authorised for use from the telephone you are using may be dialled". I reckon there were many cases where you could reach a local exchange using any of several different, though unauthorised, codes. This is all gone nowadays, everybody uses the national area codes.

13th May 2020, 5:05 am	#38
Hermitcrab Triode Join Date: Mar 2020 Location: Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK. Posts: 42	Re: The space in the STD codes Thanks Pellseinydd for that comprehensive information about Harewood exchange! In the Leeds telephone area where I used to live, Wakefield had the STD code 0924 and was obtained by dialling 97 from Leeds. Some other exchanges such as Dewsbury and Batley were also 0924, but were obtained by the single-digit code 9 from Leeds: these numbers began with 4 so the equipment would have recognised it as a Dewsbury or Batley number, rather than a Wakefield number, as soon as you dialled 94. One day I wondered what would happen if you dialled 97 for Dewsbury instead of 9. I had occasion to ring a Dewsbury number and tried this, it worked and would have been charged the same, but was rather a pointless exercise as all I had done was dialled one more digit than necessary! The Post Office often included a caveat in their Dialling Code Booklets: "Only codes which are authorised for use from the telephone you are using may be dialled". I reckon there were many cases where you could reach a local exchange using any of several different, though unauthorised, codes. This is all gone nowadays, everybody uses the national area codes.