Parents hung up over phone 'sex line' bills

MOSCOW (AFP) - Parents in Moldova are hopping mad after receiving huge bills run up by their children who dialled a new Australian telephone sex line to hear a Russian-speaking woman explain 'how to make love', the Itar-Tass news agency reported yesterday.

The calls were made after Chisinau was hooked up to a global satellite communications system; local schools were flooded with advertisements for an Australian line offering 'sex stories'.

Stepan Musyka, Moldova's deputy communications minister, said many parents were refusing to pay the bills - some reached more than 70,000 roubles, which is 10 times the average monthly wage in Moldova - on the grounds that the local telephone company 'failed to protect them against the sex stories'.

Similar incidents have occurred in recent years in many countries, including Britain, where MPs have demanded tighter restrictions on the lines. European phone companies are drawing up a code of practice to regulate such lines. Concern over the services extends to subscribers whose phones have been used without permission; many have complained of astronomical bills.