VICTIMS of malicious phone calls are refusing to suffer in silence.

They are increasingly turning to BT's malicious calls bureau for help to end their telephone torture.

New figures released as the North West bureau celebrates its fifth anniversary show the number of victims contacting BT for help has risen by 73 per cent since 1992.

In total during 1996-97 there were 37,000 calls to the bureau - 10,000 of them from subscribers in Greater Manchester.

These complaints led to 164 prosecutions throughout the North West including 50 in Greater Manchester.

During the five years, BT's team has handled more than 160,000 calls for help from victims of unwanted calls.

These range from the silent calls made by pranksters to the more threatening and abusive variety.

Highly trained staff at BT's North West bureau are now dealing with an average of 3,000 calls a month.

They liaise with five police authorities and connect more than 100 call tracing devices to telephones every week, with about 1,000 call traces in place at any one time.

About two-thirds of the victims of malicious calls are women while two-thirds of callers are men.

Centre manager Ian Hall said: "Receiving malicious calls can be extremely traumatic, but victims are often reassured by our ability to help them.

"We have a highly-trained team who not only give comfort and advice to victims, but also use the latest digital telecommunications technology to assist the police in tracking down the people who abuse the telephone by making these calls."

Anyone who needs help can contact the bureau free on 0800 411 426 during office hours.

There is also a free 24-hour recorded information service on 0800 666 700. A free leaflet giving basic advice is available to anyone on request.

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