To ask why you've phoned the police?

About 2am in the morning some bloke shouting harassment at my neighbour across the road from the street up to her window. Her older teenage son shouting back and both men threatening each other with violence, rang police then on 999 to report - car was already on the way as someone else on street had already rang.

Couple of teenagers set fire to my neighbours fence. Luckily I saw them and was able to put it out quickly as had a pan of water from cooking dinner. I rang 111 as I was worried that it could have been targeted and they'd come back. 111 told me off and said that I should have rang 999 and also interrogated me about whether the teenagers were black. The 999 response officers arrived and gave me a telling off for wasting their time. Neighbours were annoyed that the police interrupted their dinner. No good deed goes unpunished as they say 🤷

But why not 999 for the ambulance? Why call the police?

I’ve called often.
A young woman (early 20s?) was sat on the floor with no shoes on crying, it wasn’t until I was further away that I realised I should have asked if she was ok. I called the police and they did a check. Apparently she had won a significant amount of money at bingo and was happy!

more recently, a group of kids were trying to set fire to the play equipment at the park I walk my dog.

2 men were attacking 1 man, I saw from my bedroom window. Looked drug related but I still called.

A car was driving up and down the streets (I live in rows of terraced houses) that had clearly been in a crash as the bumper was hanging off.

Pol presence has gone up where I live and I believe it’s because people are reporting more things. They can’t help and do anything about things if they don’t know. Twice a day I see them walking/riding around the area. And that’s just what I see.

Saw an accident on motorway, on a filthy wet night. Had to explain to the police where we were and what had happened. Terrifying to be standing on the hard shoulder as cars thunder by so close, has given me a new appreciation of why the emergency services shut a road. The woman passenger survived, sadly her husband didn’t.

Another time called an ambulance when I found someone unconscious at the side of the road. A sign had fallen off a shop so there was a possibility it had hit the man. I think that was ruled out and he was just very drunk.

In my early 20s my house phone malfunctioned and kept connecting to the emergency services line. It did it 2-3 times so I had to convince them I was ok and not in need of help. The phone had to be replaced.

Called them once when my neighbour was beating the living daylights out of his wife. They came, took him away. 10 minutes later she's out in the street with a knife screaming for whoever called the police to come outside. Slashed all the tyres on 6 cars in the street before the police came back and took her in as well.

I’ve also phoned the police for a man on a pushbike cycling the wrong way on the M32 (this motorway with a restriction of 40mph in places, so guess he got confused)

I called them for two girls aged about 7 and 9 sitting on the crash barrier of the m5 watching the cars go by. They had obviously walked over nearby fields to get there as there wasn’t a broken down car/adult in sight.

I also phoned the transport police once when some rugby supporters on the train were singing a song about lynching.

999 when the neighbour above us was beating his wife twice. Whilst I was on the phone to them on the first occasion, her screaming stopped and I could hear their 5 year old begging him to "leave mummy alone". Was heartbreaking. We had just moved in for a new University year but it turned out the Police were already aware of his behaviour. They came fast.

101 when I mislaid one of our Homeless service users. Couldn't get hold of them at all. Left messages, put notes through the door of their temporary accomodation etc, nothing. So we used our keys...blood on the bed and floor, every cupboard pulled out. Place looked ransacked. Management wanted to just change the locks...I called the police.

Someone called 999 on me once. I was walking home from a party via a large Scottish road bridge around 2am one night somewhat drunk. Stopped to look over the side (for some reason probably relating to the alcohol I had consumed I was on the road part) and next thing I know some policemen gave me the fright of my life when they grabbed me. I pretty much went from drunk to stone cold sober and shaking in a heartbeat. Apparently a passing motorist going the other way had thought I was trying to commit suicide and phoned them. The fact that I was barefoot hadn't helped.

I'd say I average about once a week for a concern for welfare/risk to life. Sometimes less frequent, sometimes more. Think the most is 4 times in a day. Work related obviously.

For an horse running in the middle of the main road in a small and pitch dark village.

For help locating my child's friend who was making a suicide attempt.

Called once when me and DH were passed by a car at easily 100mph on an A road, by the time they’d answered the car had hit a house and smashed through a wall.

Called a week before school holidays as a car had pulled out of its drive and hit my daughter. Still waiting for a visit/call…

Yes last week for the first & hopefully last time, my husband had collapsed. Ambulance arrived within ten minutes 😊super impressed. Gave him morphine & taken to urgent care. later that night, he passed a kidney stone

Never 999 but have called the non-emergency number to report an accident (car hit mine and didn’t stop), and for druggies hanging about in the close.

after I was beaten up and raped in my house and the guy kept coming back- 20 years ago.

when someone set a bonfire in the car park behind my old house - approx 18 years ago.

my nan collapsed and I didn’t know if she had had a stroke so called for an ambulance - about 10 years ago.?

when my baby was poorly - mind you, that was the 111 who I rang and sent an ambulance so I didn’t ring 999 then- 2 years ago.

so I think I’ve dialled 999 three times in my 45 years.

I called 999 last week, a young girl was trying to jump off a bridge, luckily 2 builders jumped out their car and went up and pulled her over to safety.

When I saw a pedestrian walking along the outside lane of a motorway.
Someone else had already reported it but not given a location.
I was able to give more details and they said they would make it top priority and dispatch a car immediately.

I called the non emergency number a couple of years ago after seeing several horses grazing at the side of the main road at 4am on my way to work. It was reported in the local paper later that day, the Police had struggled to find the horses who had escaped from a nearby field.

I rang the non emergency line to confirm my ex is a gaslighting bastard when he claimed to be "under police protection" due to a "major threat to his life" I said I believe he is lying to me but just in case would you be obliged tell me if my children are at risk being around him because of this "major threat" obviously they can't confirm if he actually was under police protection what they could tell me was that if someone has such a significant risk to his life that they had to move him to a safe house they would be liasing with me and social services would be involved to protect the children which is abit obvious but not what he wanted me to believe

Twice in the last 3 weeks! Both for ambulance. First time my mum had a stroke. Then she got out of hospital and that night she fell down the stairs and broke her neck!
And once at work for a customer having a seizure.

A loose horse
A herd of escaped sheep
A strange man screaming and attacking cars

I rang 999 when I heard my (thankfully) ex neighbour shouting 'she's stabbed me'. She clearly hadn't as he was arrested and I wasn't impressed as the police pushed him over my car bonnet to cuff him! I wouldn't have put it past her to stab him though as she was as rough as anything.

I rang 101 when I saw a dog running down the road and was transferred to 999 as it was classed as an emergency.

The only other time I've dialled 999 for the police was when I was driving behind a car that was weaving all over the road. They weren't interested and told me to stop following, which I couldn't as I needed to go the same way, and to report it online!

Thank you

The police found me unconscious and they called for an ambulance, I came round when the paramedics got here, the police explained why they were at my house but under the circumstances they wouldnt take it any further, it actually felt like they were doing me a favour by not pursuing it so no apology.

I phoned 999 earlier this year because we saw a man climbing over the railing of a bridge on the 70 mph stretch of the A2 and were concerned that he planned to jump .