This is why Dundee’s area code is 01382

Picture: Shahbaz Majeed

Have you ever wondered why Dundee's area code is 01382?

It used to be 0382, but it was changed as part of a UK-wide update in 1995 called PhONEday.

PhONEday was introduced to make room for more phone numbers across the country.

As part of this, a "1" was added to the beginning of all area codes — Dundee's 0382, for instance, became 01382. This was done to help develop a single dialling system along with meeting the growing demand for phone lines as more people began using landlines and mobile phones.

The alteration was brought about by Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, who wanted to future-proof the system for generations to come. Dundee was not the sole area to be affected — the alteration was carried out throughout the UK as a whole.

Despite all these alterations, people living in Dundee had nothing to worry about — local calling stayed exactly the same.

So for calls locally within Dundee, you generally do not have to dial the area code at all. Dundee phone numbers are also easy to remember, with just six digits after the area code.

There is, nevertheless, a single exception to look out for: a certain series of numbers, 01382 006XXX, is sometimes used for alarm systems and other automated services.

Some mobile networks won't allow calls to this range, and this has caused intermittent difficulties for both mobile and long-distance callers.

So, while 01382 might just be a set of numbers, it's a tiny piece of a rather bigger story of how our phones and systems have evolved over the decades.