Telephones hitch hits council lines

A TECHNICAL hitch caused many of the city council's phone lines to fail.

From early morning yesterday to around 2pm calls to many of the council's numbers went straight to an engaged tone. It is understood that the problem affected most council departments - although not every telephone line.

However, the council said that its principal call centres, including the main 200 2000 number, were still operating. Trade unions confirmed that many staff had problems, although there were not any issues reported where customers had difficulty as a result.

A city council spokeswoman said: "Some council offices were affected by a telephone fault this morning and we worked with our partner BT to resolve the problem as quickly as possible. Members of the public were still able to contact the main council number 200 2000 and the contact centre."

It is not the first time that the council has suffered from telephone glitches. In April 2008 callers also struggled to get in touch with a series of council departments, although the council said then that it moved quickly with BT to solve the problem.