0191

0191
United Kingdom area code for Tyneside/Durham/Sunderland
0191
National calling	0191
International calling	+44 191
Conservation	No
Active since	16 April 1995
Previous code(s)	091
Earlier code(s)	0385, 0632, 0783, 0894
Number format	0191 xxx xxxx
Coverage
Area served	Chester-le-Street Durham Easington Peterlee Sunderland Tyneside
List of United Kingdom codes

0191 is the UK telephone dialling code used by Newcastle, Durham, Sunderland and other nearby areas in the north east of England.^[1]

Areas covered

Numbering in the 0191 area is officially divided into three distinct areas, each with their own batches of local subscriber numbers:

Number range	Official designation^[2]	Notes
0191 2xx xxxx	Tyneside	Mainly North Tyneside, Newcastle upon Tyne and parts of Northumberland
0191 3xx xxxx	Durham	Also Chester-le-Street
0191 4xx xxxx	Tyneside	Originally exclusive to South Tyneside, Washington, Tyne and Wear and Gateshead
0191 5xx xxxx	Sunderland	Also East Durham
0191 6xx xxxx	Tyneside	Primarily VOIP, virtual operators and overflow from 2xx xxxx range for Newcastle city centre.
0191 7xx xxxx	Sunderland	Extra capacity assigned in 2010, following consultation.^[3]
0191 8xx xxxx	Tyneside	Extra capacity assigned in 2010, following consultation.^[3]
0191 9xx xxxx	Durham	Extra capacity assigned in 2010, following consultation.^[3]

In practice, some of the distinction between these areas has been lost due to differing levels of demand in each area and the need to find sufficient blocks of numbers for the many competing telephone companies that now exist. In particular, the original distinction between north Tyneside (2xx xxxx) and south Tyneside (4xx xxxx) has been obscured as the former range reached full capacity and recent allocations north of the Tyne have made use of spare capacity in the 4xx xxxx range. Further anomalies include Durham prefixes such as (0191) 350 being used by Cable & Wireless in Newcastle city centre^[4] and (0191) 275 being used by BT in South Shields, an area traditionally (0191) 4XX.^[5] New connections with Talk Talk have the prefix 447 or 340 no matter where in the 0191 area they reside and all new Sky telephone lines have the prefix 659, 660, 670 and 711 within the 0191 area regardless of location.

Local dialling omitting the area code and using only the seven digit subscriber number is possible throughout the area, regardless of location or service provider.^[3]

2010 Numbering Consultation

The release of local numbers starting 7, 8 and 9 followed consultation by Ofcom,^[3]^[6] in which the regulator stated its plans to issue remaining unused numbers in the 0191 area code in a way that preserves three distinct geographical groupings. Ofcom's initial proposal included allocating the 7xx xxxx range to Tyneside and the 8xx xxxx range to Sunderland. These assignments were reversed following consultation feedback from individuals and BT.^[7]

History of the code

The original 091 area code was introduced in 1982 and phased in over a period of approximately five years. It was the newest two-figure STD code since the STD system was introduced into the UK, prior to London being split into two STD codes (071 and 081). It was later changed to 0191 as a part of PhONEday. Although it had no letter mnemonic officially ascribed to the 9 (due to the code being introduced years after All Figure Dialling, which saw existing letter mnemonics being converted to their corresponding numbers), it was believed that the number was chosen because it could stand for the 'Y' in Tyneside or the 'W' in Wear, despite the code also being used in Durham, which previously used 0DU5 (0385).

0632	→	Became (091) 2 and (091) 4
0385	→	Became (091) 3
0894	→	Became (091) 4
0783	→	Became (091) 5

The first area to be converted was Newcastle upon Tyne (0632) and the change over took about 20 months starting in 1982. Newcastle City Centre five-digit numbers in 0632 all began with 2, so 18 months before the scheme started, their numbers were prefixed with 3; that would allow the number 2 to be utilised for the North Tyne numbering part of the scheme. The first exchanges to convert to 7-digit dialling were Blaydon, Birtley, and Washington. Their local 6-digit numbers already began with 4 and were situated south of the River Tyne; to alleviate misdialling and confusion they were the first localities to convert. The main problem was that Blaydon numbers already began with 44 so misdialling in that exchange was inevitable.

To prevent misdialling between (0632) 44XXXX and (091) 444 XXXX, a plan was devised to change all South Tyne numbers beginning with the digit 4 to 7 digits by inserting 1 between the first two digits, making them (091) 41X XXXX instead. No similar problems occurred in North Tyneside as number 2 was no longer in use, 5 was not in use in Sunderland, and 3 was never used in Durham. Local numbers were changed as follows: from Birtley 40 to 410, Blaydon 44 to 414 and Washington 46 to 416. At the same time, Ryton, the only exchange in the Newcastle area with 4-figure numbers, was prefixed with 413. Ryton was still utilising the old 089,422 code for Newcastle Ring until its conversion to 091. Ryton was never upgraded to 0632 prior to seven-digit dialling.

All other numbers were prefixed with 2 north of the River Tyne and 4 south of it. Sunderland followed with the prefix 5 after the Tyneside scheme was completed, and Durham, again shortly after, with 3. Unlike Tyneside, whose changeover occurred in stages, the entire Durham and the entire Sunderland changeover occurred simultaneously overnight.

Five-digit numbers in Sunderland were prefixed with 51 or 56; e.g., Sunderland (0783) 72000 became (091) 567 2000, and (0783) 43077 became (091) 514 3077.

Five-digit numbers in Durham were prefixed with 38; e.g., Durham (0385) 64411 became (091) 386 4411.

References

↑ 0191 numbers and the 0191 area code – UK Area Code Finder. Area-codes.org.uk (31 August 2010).
↑ Ofcom | Telephone area codes. Consumers.ofcom.org.uk.
1 2 3 4 5 Ofcom | Telephone Numbering – Proposals for modifications to the National Telephone Numbering Plan, General Condition 17 and the telephone number application forms within existing numbering policy. Stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk.
↑ MTrec is a Manufacturing and Technical Recruitment agency based in Newcastle, North East of England. Mtrec.net.
↑ Asda South Shields Superstore – opening times & facilities. Storelocator.asda.com (27 April 2011).
↑ Because not all 0191s are alike | Phone Codes. Phonecodes.wordpress.com.
↑ http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/telephone-numbering/statement/numbering-statement.pdf

Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom

Number plan	List of dialling codes Non-geographic numbers

Number changes	All-figure dialling Area name changes Big Number Change Code misconceptions PhONEday

Special numbers	100 101 111 112 116000 116111 116123 118xxx 123 141 1471 150 155 1571 999

Geographic area codes	113 114 115 116 117 118 1200 1202 1204 1205 1206 1207 1208 1209 121 1223 1224 1225 1226 1227 1228 1229 1233 1234 1235 1236 1237 1239 1241 1242 1243 1244 1245 1246 1248 1249 1250 1252 1253 1254 1255 1256 1257 1258 1259 1260 1261 1262 1263 1264 1267 1268 1269 1270 1271 1273 1274 1275 1276 1277 1278 1279 1280 1282 1283 1284 1285 1286 1287 1288 1289 1290 1291 1292 1293 1294 1295 1296 1297 1298 1299 1300 1301 1302 1303 1304 1305 1306 1307 1308 1309 131 1320 1322 1323 1324 1325 1326 1327 1328 1329 1330 1332 1333 1334 1335 1337 1339 1340 1341 1342 1343 1344 1346 1347 1348 1349 1350 1352 1353 1354 1355 1356 1357 1358 1359 1360 1361 1362 1363 1364 1366 1367 1368 1369 1371 1372 1373 1375 1376 1377 1379 1380 1381 1382 1383 1384 1386 1387 13873 1388 1389 1392 1394 1395 1397 1398 1400 1403 1404 1405 1406 1407 1408 1409 141 1420 1422 1423 1424 1425 1427 1428 1429 1430 1431 1432 1433 1434 1435 1436 1437 1438 1439 1440 1442 1443 1444 1445 1446 1449 1450 1451 1452 1453 1454 1455 1456 1457 1458 1460 1461 1462 1463 1464 1465 1466 1467 1469 1470 1471 1472 1473 1474 1475 1476 1477 1478 1479 1480 1481 1482 1483 1484 1485 1487 1488 1489 1490 1491 1492 1493 1494 1495 1496 1497 1499 1501 1502 1503 1505 1506 1507 1508 1509 151 1520 1522 1524 15242 1525 1526 1527 1528 1529 1530 1531 1534 1535 1536 1538 1539 15394 15395 15396 1540 1542 1543 1544 1545 1546 1547 1548 1549 1550 1553 1554 1555 1556 1557 1558 1559 1560 1561 1562 1563 1564 1565 1566 1567 1568 1569 1570 1571 1572 1573 1575 1576 1577 1578 1579 1580 1581 1582 1583 1584 1586 1588 1590 1591 1592 1593 1594 1595 1597 1598 1599 1600 1603 1604 1606 1608 1609 161 1620 1621 1622 1623 1624 1625 1626 1628 1629 1630 1631 1633 1634 1635 1636 1637 1638 1639 1641 1642 1643 1644 1646 1647 1650 1651 1652 1653 1654 1655 1656 1659 1661 1663 1664 1665 1666 1667 1668 1669 1670 1671 1672 1673 1674 1675 1676 1677 1678 1680 1681 1683 1684 1685 1686 1687 1688 1689 1690 1691 1692 1694 1695 1697 16973 16974 16977 1698 1700 1702 1704 1706 1707 1708 1709 1720 1721 1722 1723 1724 1725 1726 1727 1728 1729 1730 1732 1733 1736 1737 1738 1740 1743 1744 1745 1746 1747 1748 1749 1750 1751 1752 1753 1754 1756 1757 1758 1759 1760 1761 1763 1764 1765 1766 1767 1768 17683 17684 17687 1769 1770 1771 1772 1773 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779 1780 1782 1784 1785 1786 1787 1788 1789 1790 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1803 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1827 1828 1829 1830 1832 1833 1834 1835 1837 1838 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1847 1848 1851 1852 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1892 1895 1896 1899 1900 1902 1903 1904 1905 1908 1909 191 1920 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1928 1929 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1937 1938 1939 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 19467 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1957 1959 1962 1963 1964 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1974 1975 1977 1978 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1992 1993 1994 1995 1997 20 23 24 28 29

Non-geographic prefixes charged at geographic rate	300 302 303 306 330 331 332 333 342 343 344 345 370 371 372 373

Personal, pager, VoIP and corporate numbering	55 56 70 76

Mobile telephone prefixes	71xx 73xx 74xx 75xx 7624 77xx 78xx 79xx

Freephone prefixes	500 800 808

Non-geographic prefixes with revenue share (NTS)	842 843 844 845 870 871 872 873

Premium Rate Services (PRS)	900 901 902 903 904 905 906 907 911 912 913

Adult services (SES)	908 909 982 983 984 989

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