A government Minister has spoken of his concerns about the telephone prizeline which infuriated hundreds of York residents.

But Consumer Affairs Minister Nigel Griffiths has also given a vote of confidence to the premium rate line watchdog ICSTIS, which was branded "toothless" after taking more than a fortnight to close down the line earlier this year.

The Minister said ICSTIS was a good example of industry self-regulation working.

But he also revealed that ICSTIS and the Office of Telecommunications (Oftel) were discussing how to ensure the UK telecoms industry continued to support ICSTIS in its work.

And he said that if York and North Yorkshire trading standards departments had suggestions as to how to prevent abuses of the ICSTIS code, they should bring them to ICSTIS or Oftel's attention.

Mr Griffiths spoke out after reading a series of articles in the Evening Press about the £1-a- minute premium rate line run by Disbursement Claims of High Wycombe, part of Ashford Promotions.

Fifty thousand householders in the York area received a letter encouraging them to spend up to £6 ringing the line to find out whether they had won a TV, video, cash prize or lifetime telephone number and automatic answering service.

Every single reader who contacted the Evening Press after ringing the line said they had won the telephone number and felt they had been misled into thinking they would probably win a big cash prize.

A man has been arrested by North Yorkshire trading standards officers investigating the affair, and is expected to undergo further questioning shortly.

Mr Griffiths, writing to York MP Hugh Bayley after the Member had sent him the articles and also a report from York trading standards, said he was concerned about the marketing methods used and was glad that ICSTIS had succeeded in barring access to the service.

"As a non-statutory regulator, ICSTIS requires the support and co-operation of network operators. It is therefore vital that network operators support ICSTIS and its code if the system is to work effectively," he said.

Mr Bayley said self-regulation had "failed disastrously" in this case but the minister's response had struck the correct balance between protecting consumers and expecting premium rate line users to regulate themselves effectively.

"Oftel is a toothless watchdog and it is time it took powers to deal firmly and effectively with rogue traders."

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