By KEVIN TAYLOR
Parents should put a block on their telephones if they are worried about their children using contact chatlines, says the manager of one chatline business.
The advice comes after two teenage girls ran away from their South Auckland home for three days when they made contact with two strangers through a chatline.
Krstal Martin, aged 13, and her foster sister, Faye Edmonds, aged 16, were found safe by police in Manurewa on Tuesday night.
They were picked up by car from their Manurewa home about 1.30 am on Sunday after making contact with two youths through a chatline.
Tony Bender, general manager of BGM and Associates, which runs three chatlines in Auckland, said he was concerned to hear about the case. Chatlines are telephone dating and contact services.
Krstal's relieved father, John Martin, wants the chatlines banned. He said yesterday that he had received many calls since the girls disappeared supporting his call to ban the chatlines, which are advertised late at night on television, and in newspapers.
Mr Bender conceded there was no practical way to screen the phone lines to stop undesirable callers using the services.
But he said operators could monitor calls and any children using it were cut off if they were detected.
The company runs three chatlines, S-Club, the Hotel and the Phone Pub. Mr Bender said the service was aimed at those over 18 and few children rang.
He suggested that if parents were concerned they should get an 0900 bar put on their telephone.
"We don't want to promote kids or anything like that in the system at all."
Mr Bender said he would talk to his technicians about increasing surveillance of the company's chatline system.
Telecom spokeswoman Gerry Eller said parents could get a block put on for no charge by ringing Telecom on 123. The only numbers it did not affect were 0900 voting lines.
Telecom had a comprehensive policy covering 0900 operators, which included a condition that they did not target children, Ms Eller said.
Telecom would investigate if it got complaints from the public about an 0900 operator, and options for action included anything from a warning to disconnection of the service.
One chatline the Herald rang yesterday contained recorded warnings that callers who were under 18 or who did not know how to behave themselves should hang up.
Callers were warned not to leave their surname, home addresses or phone numbers in their message.
Sergeant Chris Batey, of Manurewa, said chatline advertising showed good-looking women and men talking on the phone, but the reality was that nobody knew who they were talking to.
He warned parents to be careful with what their children were up to on the phone.
"If parents are getting 0900 numbers on their phone bills they should be querying everybody in the family."
Police found the girls uninjured after tracing calls to and from their home. They had been with two youths, aged 18 and 20, at a Manurewa house.
Police said no one would be charged over their disappearance.
Worried parents 'should get chatlines block'
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