Anger as BT pulls plug on Tyneside.

Byline: By Dave Black 

British Telecom bosses have sparked anger by axing Tyneside business numbers from the new Northumberland telephone directory.

Telephone customers and business leaders have condemned the changes which they say will make it more difficult for people in Northumberland to contact firms in Newcastle and will potentially lead to lost business.

Until now the Northumberland BT directory's business section has included extensive Newcastle numbers as well as those for businesses based in the county itself.

But the new edition - which has been delivered to thousands of Northumberland homes in the last few days - omits the vast majority of Tyneside numbers, resulting in its business section being drastically reduced from 273 pages to just 93.

Yesterday BT was condemned for a `blatant reduction' in its public service to people in Northumberland, many of who rely on doing business with firms in Newcastle.

Tim James, Tyne and Wear area manager with the North-East Chamber of Commerce, said: "This is a rather worrying decision by BT because we want people from Northumberland to use Newcastle businesses and generate lots of inter-trading.

"If we are going this way it saddens me because we want to give businesses on Tyneside the maximum possible exposure."

Retired museum director Frank Atkinson, of Ovingham, Northumberland, was furious when he received his new directory and has written a to BT chairman Sir Christopher Bland.

He said: "This is a blatant reduction in BT's public service and yet they still have the audacity to say in the introduction to the new Northumberland directory that it is `The Only One You Need'."

A BT spokeswoman said new and improved phone books were being introduced, including new Yellow Pages-style classified listings, as well as the traditional A to Z business and residential numbers.

In order to make the new book a commercial proposition, the duplication of data had to be avoided which lead to a review of the coverage area of each directory.

This meant businesses in Newcastle having their numbers removed from the new Northumberland directory.

She said: "If a customer living on a BT phone book boundary feels that the book they have received does not meet their needs, we will give them a free one by calling 0800 833400."