I’m not your usual “coffee morning” type, but last Friday I made an exception and made my way down to the ICA for London Tuttle, the social media cafe. I’d been invited by Lloyd Davis to share coffee and light chit chat on the Terminate the Rate campaign. Well chit chat was far from light…

These socially switched on chaps(and chappettes) had me a little nervous at first. Who could blame me – bloggers of this level tend to know everything about everything. I felt like a contestant on Mastermind. But nerves soon disappeared as I began to talk through the campaign and why it mattered to me.

A number of them had read the papers over the previous days and were aware of our campaign. Many were confused as to why the Rate still existed and wondered how the industry had been able to get away with it. We chatted for hours about the skewed model that had trained all phone users to open conversations with the phrase “What network are you on?” and had our landline-loving parents fearful of calling a number that began with 07.

In the strongly opinionated world of Tuttle, no one wants to be dictated to by big bad corporations. As expected, comparisons were made with bank charges - another unexplained fee for using a necessary service. As one blogger put it, “it makes you wonder what other hidden charges exist in the UK”.

Inspired by their feelings of injustice, many attendees grabbed a Terminate the Rate Beaky and signed up to the campaign, which was great to see - many names make light work in persuading OfCom!

As I made my way back to the tube, I had a spring in my step. Maybe it was the extra coffee or maybe it was excitement of talking to those smart people at Tuttle – they like to talk and I’m sure they will be debating/thinking/Tweeting about this unfair hidden tax until a change is made.