Half of Oban are told: ‘You’re not in the town or even Argyll’

OBAN residents were understandably confused last week to discover that the town has been split in two by BT.

Half of the town is, inexplicably, listed in the 2016-17 Highlands and Islands phonebook, while the other half is in the Lomond and Argyll directory.

In fact, it would appear that, despite the map printed inside the cover of the Lomond and Argyll telephone directory showing all of Oban, all postcodes in the town starting with PA34 5 were left out and were considered by BT to be in the Highlands.

This means that anything north of Argyll Square – that is, all of the businesses on George Street, half of Stevenson Street and the North Pier, along with many others - have been excluded from the Argyll book.

Postcodes starting with PA34 4 – ie, south of Argyll Square, such as those on Soroba Road - have remained in the Argyll listings

Anthony Storr, of Lorn Locks and DIY Ltd, was surprised when he looked in his Lomond and Argyll directory and noticed that his home number, which is in Kilmore, was listed but the business on Oban’s Craigard Road was not there.

When he contacted BT to notify the firm that his business wasn’t listed, it assured him it was, in fact, in the Highlands and Islands phonebook.

However, being an Argyll resident, he hadn’t received a copy.

Understandably, Mr Storr was concerned about the effect this would have on his business as, despite half the town being list- ed in the other directory, Oban residents are only receiving the Lomond and Argyll book.

He said: ‘There’s something far wrong and it reflects on businesses when people can’t reach you. We are being penalised, in a way, for BT’s incompetence.’

He contacted BT to raise these concerns and to seek an explanation as to why it had done this but at the time of going to print he was still awaiting a response.

Kathryn Fenmore- Spence also contacted The Oban Times about the issue.

She noticed that there had been a similar situation with the directories in 2014-15.

She said: ‘It’s a pretty bad mistake that nobody seems to have done anything about. Being in the phonebook is something we are paying for and we are not getting 100 per cent of the service.’