Phone ringing at Surbiton station but in a locked box

[infobleep]

Hi there

Last night a phone outside Surbiton station was running. It was in a black box which was locked. It was the really old fashioned style of ring.

Surprised the phone is still connected. Above it was a plaque with a taxi number people could ring. Clearly people use mobiles now.

I did take a photo but it was too blurred. I took a few seconds of video which I might put on YouTube. I've only heard the phone ring once before but I wasn't sure at the time where it was coming from.

I wonder if any other stations have unusual things like this. I know Surbiton is a heritage station in some respects.

 

[Welshman]

Is there a taxi rank at Surbiton?

It sounds like it could be the property of the taxi company, not the railways, and answered by taxi-drivers on the rank when someone is requesting a taxi in another part of town.

Just an idea.

 

[Feathers44]

I hope it was call centre trying to flog payment protection insurance recovery services. If they're ringing an unmanned phone in a locked box then it means they're not disturbing me.

 

[infobleep]

You might be right Welshman. However no one was answering it. Feathers44 I couldn't agree more.

 

[nlogax]

It's been happening for months - confused the hell out of me!

 

[edwin_m]

Anyone remember that old TV commercial about the phone ringing in the Carlsberg complaints department?

 

[tsr]

There is a similar phone at Redhill's main taxi rank which is also prone to ringing constantly - and very loudly!

 

[6Gman]

I hope it was call centre trying to flog payment protection insurance recovery services. If they're ringing an unmanned phone in a locked box then it means they're not disturbing me.

I did hear of somebody travelling in a lift when the emergency phone rang. He thought he ought to answer in case it was a safety call. It was PPI .....

 

[HarleyDavidson]

I've had a few sales calls, but after the last one I answered I've never had another. And I wasn't rude, I didn't make any threats, blwo a whistle down the phone or simply hang up the guy.

 

[thelem]

Anyone remember that old TV commercial about the phone ringing in the Carlsberg complaints department?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oTs6Oz-OW8

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Perhaps Michael Emerson or Jim Caviezel were supposed to answer...?

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person_of_Interest_(TV_series)

 

[jon0844]

I hope it was call centre trying to flog payment protection insurance recovery services. If they're ringing an unmanned phone in a locked box then it means they're not disturbing me.

If the phone inside is really old, it's probably eligible for an upgrade too....

 

[swj99]

I hope it was call centre trying to flog payment protection insurance recovery services. If they're ringing an unmanned phone in a locked box then it means they're not disturbing me.

It's probably the customer service number for my internet service provider. They never answer the phone (no names no libel summons).

Talking of which, there's a phone box on the other side of town where I live, and I made a note of the number. I give it to companies when I don't want them to know my actual number. I've had them say 'we tried to call but got no reply.' I tell them that was because I wasn't in.

 

[carriageline]

I did hear of somebody travelling in a lift when the emergency phone rang. He thought he ought to answer in case it was a safety call. It was PPI .....

Don't! I have heard of calls going through to signalboxes selling PPI


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[infobleep]

Don't! I have heard of calls going through to signalboxes selling PPI


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well it's not as if the signalman is busy!

 

[najaB]

I've had a few sales calls, but after the last one I answered I've never had another. And I wasn't rude, I didn't make any threats, blwo a whistle down the phone or simply hang up the guy.

I hope you were saying that you didn't blow a whistle down the phone as this can damage the hearing of the person on the phone and is classed as criminal assault. A former colleague of mine had it done to her and she was suffering the effects for several weeks.

 

[HarleyDavidson]

Perhaps these money grabbing sales plebs shouldn't cold call then, especially when the number is registered with the TPS. Don't like it don't call.

 

[najaB]

Perhaps these money grabbing sales plebs shouldn't cold call then, especially when the number is registered with the TPS. Don't like it don't call.

Regardless of the nature of the call, you have no right to assault someone. You wouldn't punch a charity collector in the face for stopping you street, or would you? People have been left with permanent hearing damage as a result of whistles and similar loud noises down the phone.

 

[Yew]

Regardless of the nature of the call, you have no right to assault someone. You wouldn't punch a charity collector in the face for stopping you street, or would you? People have been left with permanent hearing damage as a result of whistles and similar loud noises down the phone.

Surely their union should insist on telephonic devices which are unable of producing dangerous levels of noise?


I wonder if calling a signal box could be classed as 'interfering with the safe operation of the railways'?

 

[najaB]

Surely their union should insist on telephonic devices which are unable of producing dangerous levels of noise?

The issue is that they need to be able to turn the volume up to be able to hear callers on faint lines, etc. Most call centres use 'noise defender' units to provide some protection but often they can't react fast enough to deal with the sudden massive increase in noise when a [expletive deleted] blows a whistle or similar down the line rather than just hanging up. Hopefully more people who do this will be prosecuted for assault.

I wonder if calling a signal box could be classed as 'interfering with the safe operation of the railways'?

My vote is 'Yes'.

 

[table38]

Talking of which, there's a phone box on the other side of town where I live, and I made a note of the number. I give it to companies when I don't want them to know my actual number. I've had them say 'we tried to call but got no reply.' I tell them that was because I wasn't in.

Ofcom allocate some "spare" numbers to be used in Cinema and TV dramas etc. - there's a list here. Feel free to call me on 0161 496 1234 any time

But the best approach was that guy who bought an 0871 number and gave that to all these companies who "sell on" your number, link here

A man targeted by marketing companies is making money from cold calls with his own higher-rate phone number.

In November 2011 Lee Beaumont paid £10 plus VAT to set up his personal 0871 line - so to call him now costs 10p, from which he receives 7p.

The Leeds businessman told BBC Radio 4's You and Yours programme that the line had so far made £300.

Phone Pay Plus, which regulates premium numbers, said it strongly discouraged people from adopting the idea.

 

[najaB]

As an aside, I do not nor have not worked for any company that does cold calling and my colleague who suffered severe acoustic shock was working on a customer service helpline.

While I agree that companies that engage in sales cold-calling are the scum of the earth, I have enough respect for the person on the other end of the phone to just say "No thanks" and hang up.

 

[33056]

Don't! I have heard of calls going through to signalboxes selling PPI

True, been there done that etc :roll:
It was actually one of those with the recorded message rather than a human being at the other end so the call was terminated forthwith.

In a similar vein, I used to work in a place which had remote depots where the staff booked on via a direct line phone. One of these rang one evening; I answered it expecting it to be somebody who was due to start work shortly but it was a wrong number and the lady on the other end asked which number she had just called. Had a hell of a job trying to explain that as it was a direct line I really didn't have a clue as to what number she had dialled

 

[swj99]

Perhaps these money grabbing sales plebs shouldn't cold call then, especially when the number is registered with the TPS. Don't like it don't call.

I had a call the other day. I politely said, "Can I just stop you there, we're subscribed to the Telephone Preference Service."
She told me they were exempt. So I asked if they were exempt from being told to sod off.

 

[trentside]

I've had PPI and other claims companies ring my railway mobile before, often at inappropriate times. My personal mobile was being bombarded for a while, but I've made use of the block function on my phone and it seems to have stopped.

I'm on TPS at home, but still get the odd call - usually from scammers.

 

[londonbridge]

I had a call the other day. I politely said, "Can I just stop you there, we're subscribed to the Telephone Preference Service."
She told me they were exempt. So I asked if they were exempt from being told to sod off.

My usual script is to say "Please be aware that you are not allowed to call me as I'm registered with TPS and if you call this number again you'll be reported", and then hang up before they can say anything else.

 

[DelayRepay]

I used to work in the bank complaints department, dealing with among other things PPI complaints. I would from time to time get phone calls from the PPI parasites.

 

[AndyNLondon]

I work in IT support, and when I get the "Windows Technical Support" scam calls I'll try to waste as much of their time as possible if I've nothing better to be doing. My personal favourite was keeping them going for over half an hour with made-up information, without even having a Windows computer in front of me

 

[Kite159]

TPS is pretty much worthless for the automatic number generating cold-callers, who call up automatically generated numbers. If it answers the number is saved as 'genuine'.

Hence why some of the phones at work whose civi numbers are not given out (comes up with private number when you phone out) get the cold-callers.

 

[WelshBluebird]

I work in IT support, and when I get the "Windows Technical Support" scam calls I'll try to waste as much of their time as possible if I've nothing better to be doing. My personal favourite was keeping them going for over half an hour with made-up information, without even having a Windows computer in front of me

The best I think was when I "played along" with them. I have a Mac, so when the guy was saying about the start menu and my computer etc etc I was just playing dumb. The guy didn't know what had hit him!