special service telephone numbers

(for England, Wales and Northern Ireland)

Enter your postcode in the field at the bottom of this page to see if your local authority trading standards department has the full leaflet version available on its website. 

Special services numbers are UK telephone numbers beginning '08'. Unlike ordinary landline numbers beginning ’01’ and ‘02’, the numbers do not relate to any particular geographic location. For most callers, it costs more to call ‘0845’/’0870’numbers. If you use a special services number for your business, you should not use the terms ‘local’ or ‘national’ rate, or words which could imply these rates. Under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, it is an offence to give misleading price indications to consumers and to omit details of prices if that also misleads.