The Cones Hotline was a

telephone A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...

hotline A hotline is a Point-to-point (telecommunications), point-to-point information transfer, communications Data link, link in which a telephone call, call is automatically directed to the preselected destination without any additional action by t ...

introduced by the

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister Advice (constitutional law), advises the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, sovereign on the exercise of much of the Royal prerogative ...

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British retired politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. Following his defeat to Ton ...

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. The hotline was widely seen as being a waste of government resources, costing several thousand pounds per year to run. In September 1995, having fielded 17,000 calls, it was announced that the hotline would transition into a new system.

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

Highways Agency National Highways (NH), formerly Highways England and before that the Highways Agency, is a government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving motorways and major A roads in England. It also sets highways standards u ...

was another of Major's innovations, having been formed not long before, in 1994. The hotline was one of the first to move to the new local-rate 0845 numbers in 1996. In 2010, the Highways Agency announced the two year phase out of the 0845 number in favour of a new number, 0300 1235000. The change was to take advantage of cost savings offered by 0300 numbers. For callers, the 0300 number was treated the same as a typical geographic phone number (starting with 01 or 02) in pricing schemes by all phone companies, including mobile phones. Under the 0845 number, some charged extra to call the number. Additionally, Highways England's per minute fee on each call was now capped at 5p. 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 Citizens Charter and the Charter Mark. 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 The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) is an integrated telephone numbering plan for twenty-five regions in twenty countries, primarily in North America and the Caribbean. This group is historically known as World Zone 1, World Numbering Zone ...

References

{{John Major Streetworks Telecommunications-related introductions in 1992 Information by telephone