CRUEL hoax telephone callers make thousands of innocent peoples lives a misery each year.

But now, in a bid to help combat the menace, British Telecom will be setting up a special advice and information desk in St Anne's Library, Clifton Drive South, on September 4.

Investigators from BT's Nuisance Calls Bureau from Blackburn, will be present to answer queries from the Fylde public.

They will explain how the company's digital call tracing technology works and hand out informative leaflets.

Manager Ian Hall, said: "The bureau has proved to be a real success story. We have developed close links with the Lancashire police to provide a co-ordinated crackdown on nuisance callers.

"We want the public to find out more about how BT can help with this problem and give them an opportunity to chat with investigators face to face."

Covering the whole of the North West, the bureau currently handles a staggering 2,500 new cases each month, 500 of which become police investigations.

Anyone making a malicious call is committing a crime under the Telecommunications Act and runs the risk of being fined £5,000 plus being jailed for six months.

Even people ringing from mobile phones cannot escape the net as their numbers can be identified just as quickly as from any other by BT's sophisticated multi-billion pound digital telephone exchanges.

All victims have to do is press a single key on their telephone and a trace is activated.

For the more persistent nuisance calls, a trace can help lead the police to the culprit.

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