A CONTROVERSIAL premium rate telephone line was still operating today, five days after a watchdog group said it was pulling the plug.

York residents have continued ringing the 0896 £1-a-minute service, hoping in vain to have won a big cash prize.

Phil Marley, of Skelton, said he rang it at the weekend after receiving a letter telling him he was guaranteed to win one from a range of prizes, including cash, a TV, a video and a "lifetime personal telephone number with answerphone service."

He, like many other York residents, spent £6 on the call only to find he had won the telephone number. North Yorkshire trading standards say there is no evidence that people who won the prize elsewhere in Britain before Christmas have yet received their gift.

The premium rate watchdog ICSTIS asked network operator World Telecom, last Wednesday, to bar access to the 0896 service, which is run by Ashford Promotions of Bucks. It was not satisfied the firm had stopped using misleading promotional material.

But World Telecom denied today it had had any responsibility for the service for several weeks. Spokeswoman Carol Barnes said it had cancelled a contract with Ashford Promotions in December after hearing from the watchdog that it was unhappy with the promotional firm.

ICSTIS said it had not been made aware of this, and was investigating further.

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