"Road_Hog®" <No Spam> declared for all the world to hear...
> If so, wander down to your local independent mobile phone shup that does
> unlocking and tell them it needs the IMEI repaired/written to the phone. No
> more difficult than unlocking it, which they can do at the same time.

IMEI changing is illegal in the UK unless you are a licensed repairer,
not many dealers will openly advertise this "service".
--
Regards
Jon