020

"0171" redirects here. For the New Testament manuscript, see Uncial 0171.

This article is about the London dialling code. For the Amsterdam area code, see Telephone numbers in the Netherlands. For the Guangzhou area code, see Telephone numbers in China. For the Pune area code, see Telephone numbers in India. For the Motorola processor, see Motorola 68020.

Approximate coverage of 020 dialling code (in red), compared to Greater London boundary (black line)

020 is the dialling code for London in the United Kingdom.

Coverage

The code serves an area similar to Greater London, formerly known as the London Director Area. Some outer districts are covered by sections of adjacent codes and in some places the 020 code extends beyond the Greater London boundary. The code covers an area larger than the London post town.

Areas completely covered by 020

The City of London and the London Boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Brent, Camden, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Hackney, Hammersmith and Fulham, Haringey, Harrow, Hounslow, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston upon Thames, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Newham, Redbridge, Richmond upon Thames, Southwark, Sutton, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth and the City of Westminster are more or less completely covered by the code.

Areas in Greater London covered by other codes

Area code	Main exchange	London boroughs partly covered
01322	Dartford	Bexley
01689	Orpington †	Bromley and Croydon
01737	Redhill	Croydon
01708	Romford †	Havering
01753	Slough	Hillingdon
01895	Uxbridge †	Hillingdon
01923	Watford	Hillingdon
01959	Westerham	Bromley
01992	Waltham Cross	Enfield

† = located within Greater London

Areas outside Greater London covered by 020

County	District	Places
Essex	Epping Forest	Loughton, Chigwell, Buckhurst Hill, Sewardstone
Hertfordshire	Hertsmere	Elstree, Borehamwood, Bushey
	Three Rivers	Carpenders Park, South Oxhey
Surrey	Elmbridge	Molesey, Thames Ditton
	Epsom and Ewell	Ewell
	Tandridge	Whyteleafe

Sub ranges

With the introduction of the (020) area code, with the BigNumber changes, telephone numbers were changed from 7-digits (xxx xxxx) to 8-digits (xxxx xxxx) with the following sub-ranges:

0xxx xxxx 1xxx xxxx	national dialling only, not issued locally
2xxx xxxx	future use
3xxx xxxx	new local numbers created by move to 020 (currently issued)
4xxx xxxx 5xxx xxxx 6xxx xxxx	future use
70xx xxxx 71xx xxxx	new local numbers created by move to 020
72xx xxxx 73xx xxxx 74xx xxxx 75xx xxxx 76xx xxxx 77xx xxxx 78xx xxxx 79xx xxxx	local numbers transferred from 0171
80xx xxxx 81xx xxxx	new local numbers created by move to 020
82xx xxxx 83xx xxxx 84xx xxxx 85xx xxxx 86xx xxxx 87xx xxxx 88xx xxxx 89xx xxxx	local numbers transferred from 0181
9xxx xxxx	future use

Allocation

59% of numbers within the 020 code are allocated to BT.^[1]

History

From 1922 the three-character digit sub-codes each corresponded to one area and were represented by letters by way of a mnemonic. The first exchange to become part of the London Director telephone system was Holborn in 1927.^[2] The numbers were written as ABBey 1234 and WIMbledon 1234. The system of mnemonics was withdrawn with the change to all-figure dialling in 1966.

The STD code 01 was introduced in 1959, at the introduction of Subscriber Trunk Dialling, although the service was only introduced at local exchanges between 1961, and 1964. For the next 30 years 01 became synonymous with the capital, particularly through phone numbers given by radio and television programmes.

Until May 1990 the 01 code covered the same area as the current 020 code, and the three digits after the code indicated the geographic area where the number was located, e.g. 01-222 1234 was in Westminster, 01-946 1234 in Wimbledon, successors to the ABBey and WIMbledon examples above. More than one sub-code was usually overlaid for each area so all Wimbledon numbers did not necessarily begin 01-946. In May 1990, 01 was divided between 071 (Inner London) and 081 (Outer London), changed again in 1995 to 0171 and 0181. 020 replaced 0171 and 0181 on 22 April 2000 after a period of dual-running that began 1 June 1999: 0171-xxx xxxx numbers changed to (020) 7xxx xxxx, and 0181-xxx xxxx changed to (020) 8xxx xxxx.

As a result of the many changes, there is now a widespread belief that 0207 and 0208 are the dialling codes for parts of London. In fact, this belief is false^[3] — see UK telephone code misconceptions. Even a decade later, many in the media continue to use this incorrect number formatting, and hence are continuing to compound Londoners' confusion on a daily basis, despite clear advice from British Telecom.^[4]

See also

• List of telephone exchanges in London

References

1. ^ Parliamentary Debates, House of Lords, 28 March 2006.
2. ^ Chapuis & Joel (2003). 100 Years of Telephone Switching: Manual and Electromechanical Switching (1878–1960's) Pt. 1. IOS Press. 
3. ^ "Ofcom | Telephone numbers – the facts and figures | (Boxout) Is it (020) 7 or 0207?". Office of Communications. Archived from the original on 2009-09-05. http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consumer/2009/08/phone-numbers/#video. Retrieved 2009-09-03. 
4. ^ Indicated on the BT website here.

External links

• List of exchanges in 1966