Cones Hotline
The Cones Hotline was a telephone hotline introduced by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom John Major in June 1992 to allow members of the public to enquire about roadworks on the country's roads and report areas where traffic cones had been deployed on a road (to close a lane or otherwise restrict traffic flow) for no apparent reason. The telephone number for the hotline (originally 0345 504030, later 08457 504030, then 0300 1235000) was usually displayed on signs after sections of roadworks.
Between March 1994 to March 1995 the hotline was staffed by a single person during office hours and by the duty staff out of hours. It moved to an external contractor for six months, before being brought back in house in September 1995.[1]
The hotline was widely seen[citation needed] as being a waste of government resources, costing several thousand pounds per year to run. In September 1995, having fielded a 17,000 calls, it was announced that the hotline would transitioned into a new system.[2]
Legacy
Highways Agency Information Line
The hotline continued after this date, with a broader remit, and renamed as the Highways Agency Information Line or HAIL. The
The system applies to major highways and motorways. You can report a breakdown, including your own, debris on the highway, other incidents or make enquiries about road conditions.
Other programs
The Cones Hotline was the forerunner of the
In 1998 the 5-1-1 road conditions number started to spread across the US and Canada, and was later added to the North American Numbering Plan.
References
- ^ Hansard
- ^ Christian Wolmar (19 September 1995). "Cones Hotline put into cold storage". The Independent. London.
- ^ "New phone number for Highways Agency Information Line makes savings all round". wired-gov.net. 10 June 2010. Archived from the original on 1 April 2020. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7772818.stm