Not much help I am afraid but I have just checked on the Newsgroups and there are no announcements of the BB being down in your area and no individuals from your area reporting problems in the BB support area.
Unless someone can come up with a better solution for you it looks like you may have to persevere with phoning 151.
If you can wait till morning try phoning just after 8am when you may well have a better chance of getting a UK member of staff.