Re-unification of London
Further increased demand for telephone numbers in London led to the need for more number-space: rather than again split area codes, it was decided to merge the 0171 and 0181 area codes back into one but add an extra digit to the start of each London local number, thus increasing the available numbers fivefold.
From 1 June 1999, a new code for a re-united London was created, 020. All the old seven-digit numbers had a 7 or 8 prefixed to them, depending upon whether they had been part of 0171 or 0181. Thus:
(0171) xxx xxxx became (020) 7xxx xxxx
(0181) xxx xxxx became (020) 8xxx xxxx
Direct dialling of 8-digit local numbers was not implemented until 22 April 2000. After this date, London became once more fully united and all local numbers could be connected correctly from anywhere in the area. The following diagram shows the history of London's code, starting with the original unified 01 code and ending with the reunified 020 code:
Read more about this topic: UK Telephone Code Misconceptions
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