diff --git a/app/main/utils.py b/app/main/utils.py
index 78b4bb47d..45b4a0bc4 100644
--- a/app/main/utils.py
+++ b/app/main/utils.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+from flask import current_app
 
 
 class BrowsableItem(object):
@@ -32,6 +33,8 @@ class InvalidPhoneError(Exception):
 
 
 def validate_phone_number(number):
+    if number == current_app.config['TWILIO_TEST_NUMBER']:
+        return number
 
     sanitised_number = number.replace('(', '')
     sanitised_number = sanitised_number.replace(')', '')
diff --git a/config.py b/config.py
index 582d5a2ac..505e2e536 100644
--- a/config.py
+++ b/config.py
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ class Config(object):
     HEADER_COLOUR = '#FFBF47'  # $yellow
 
     AWS_REGION = 'eu-west-1'
+    TWILIO_TEST_NUMBER = os.getenv('TWILIO_TEST_NUMBER')
 
 
 class Development(Config):