Watch out if you live in Kent, are visiting there, or going on holiday from Dover because you could be in for a nasty shock by way of a French ‘phone bill! The French network Bouygues runs a signal much stronger than major UK rivals in the area and automatically switches Brits to its network when they turn on phones near Dover, which is the nearest channel port to France.

What all this means of course, is that both outgoing and incoming calls, texts and web downloads are charged at more expensive foreign roaming rates. A number of outraged residents and holiday makers have found themselves with some extra charges all of whom believed that Dover still remained in England! An O2 spokesman said: “Our network boys are working on it. We recommend people to call and we will look at every case.