Try the Telephone Directory

It is all too easy to forget the obvious. The humble telephone directory has a large number of names, numbers and addresses in it. The person you are looking for may be in it too.

Your local reference library will have all the directories for the United Kingdom and it won't take very long to search them all.

The only real snag with telephone directories is that the subject of your search may not be in it because:

• they do not have a land line
• they are ex-directory to protect their privacy
• they do have a phone, but it is registered under someone else's name

Have you noticed how each year the telephone directories get slimmer? This is because more people use mobile phones as their main phone and more people are ex-directory.

There are a host of Directory Enquiries services available for use by telephone. They all charge except from payphones.

There are free versions on the Internet such as:

http://www.bt.com/ or http://www.ukphonebook.com/ The only problem with these is that they want you to specify a location to search. You cannot simply type in "UK".

One service I use a lot is at http://b4usearch.com/ they have a People Search section where you can enter in a name and a location and if you are lucky up will come any Directory Enquiries information they may have. Along with it you will get any Electoral Register details that match. While there are limitations to this service, it is FREE and easy to use.

I will discuss the use of the Electoral Register at another time, but in the meantime - Happy Searching!