U.K. Mobile Phone Directory Crashes

The volume of people rushing to have their numbers removed causes the new UK mobile phone directory to crash.

After being given the go-ahead by the Information Commissioner, last month the UK mobile phone directory went live, over the protests of people who claimed it was an invasion of privacy.

However, it included provisions for users to have their numbers removed from the directory, and the crush of people dashing to go ex-directory has caused the site to crash, according to several reports.

The service, 118800.co.uk obtains its listings from market research companies and online businesses. It doesn’t give numbers to callers, instead telling people someone is trying to contact them. The company behind the service, Connectivity, says it has only bought information already in the public domain.

Those trying to access the site to be removed now see a message saying the site is suspended “while we make improvements.”

“All ex-directory requests made by people in our directory to date are being processed,” it adds.

“There will be no need to resend these requests. And we will take further ex-directory requests when the service resumes. We will not be taking ex-directory requests by phone or text whilst the service is not operational.”