TELECOM chiefs who have rung the changes with the new Phone Book have angered an East Lancashire MP.

British Telecom has created two telephone books for the East Lancashire district - one for Blackburn, Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley and the other for the Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale area.

Both contain the same business section which covers the whole of the East Lancashire area.

But the residential section has been slimmed down in what BT described as a "user-friendly" exercise. Hyndburn MP Greg Pope said: "This is a puzzling move. The previous book covered the whole of East Lancashire and the Bolton area.

"Now, for example, somebody living in Hyndburn will not have access to the number of a person living in Colne.

"BT is making huge profits at the moment and is now forcing people to ring 192 for information which should be at their fingertips."

BT spokesman Alan Roberts said the move to slim down the books was a UK-wide project.

He said: "The books were getting a bit too thick and heavy and becoming difficult to use because of their size. This was a disincentive for people to actually use them.

"We have also consulted community groups who were happy with the change of the book's boundaries.

"The business section covers the existing areas in the previous book and the residential section has been made more relevant to the needs of the public."

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