If you accidentally dial 999...Dont hang up!!

[Elderflower14]

Just saw this on FB.
Very interesting...

North Yorkshire Police

Accidentally dialled 999? 📞

Your natural reaction might be to hang up as soon as possible so as not to waste police time.

But did you know that if you hang up without speaking to the operator your call will be passed to us as a 'silent call'?

And many people don’t realise that we then need to spend valuable time trying to call you back to establish whether there is an emergency situation and determine if an emergency response is needed.

So, if you accidentally dial 999 then the best thing you can do is to stay on the line and let the operator know that it was an accident and that no assistance is required.

Please don’t just hang up.

Over the past seven days we have had nearly 500 abandoned calls. On average we estimate that we get approximately 20,000 calls a year that are an accidental or ‘pocket-dial’ calls.

That’s thousands of hours a year where we could be answering genuine 999 calls and 101 calls much quicker.

But there are ways you can help up:

• As mentioned above, always stay on the line and explain what has happened to the emergency service call handler if you accidentally call 999. Do not simply hang up.

• Keep your phone safe and out of reach from children and pets.

• And lock your phone before you put it in your pocket or bag.

We understand that accidents happen, but if you accidentally call us, by staying on the line you can help us save time tracing the call and free up our colleagues’ time to take genuine 999 calls from those really in need of help.

As always, if a crime is in progress or if there is an immediate risk to person or property, always dial 999.

If a crime is not in progress, then please consider reporting the incident online to us via our website in the first instance. Alternatively, you can call 101.

My sister called 999 from the bathroom landline phone many years ago (why the fuck there was a phone in the bathroom I don't know). She hung up police called back and my mum got a tongue lashing .

Some do…. But pocket dialling is also very much a thing.

I dialled it when I was 3 years old and the police came round to the house - that’s pretty common.

I also once fell over after a few too many and although I was totally fine I looked down a minute later and was horrified to see my Apple Watch connected to 999 as it had fall detection enabled. That must happen often too.

Yes, I was going to say about the fall detection thing on apple watch, mine seems to have become more sensitive lately (maybe an update) as I’m always activating it while gardening or similar, it would be easy for the call button to be touched when that happens.

A disabled friend of mine was going upstairs in her chair lift wearing a loose kaftan style gown with her phone in the pocket. A short time after she had two police at the door. She must somehow have dialled when the phone was in her pocket.

She spoke to them out of an upstairs window, but they wanted her to come down so they could be sure she really was OK. She apologised for wasting their time, but said they couldn't have been nicer.

No, in my experience they don't want you staying on the emergency line if its not an emergency. Hang up and call 101 to explain the error.

(I had to do this when DC called 999 and then screamed bloody murder as I took the phone away😬)

I did this by accident, somehow I put my phone into voiceover mode and no buttons were working, I couldn't hang up so I ended up apologising profusely to the operator and he said that they can't hang up until you've confirmed that it was definitely an accident. I was so embarrassed but then DP said he had butt-dialled them once so I felt better.

Really? My toddler called 999 a few times and we've never been called back/visited.

We're in Birmingham.

I did, I pressed a button on my iPhone 5 times (can't remember what it was) and got through, had absolutely no idea that pressing those buttons would put me through to the police

I did the other day, turns out my phone has a handy feature where if I click the power button 10 times it calls emergency services.

Except I didn't know it did that. So my ADHD brain was just idly fiddling as per usual, and next thing I know I hear a little voice talking at me from a distance.

Oops!

Do you get the message now that people do indeed, accidentally call 999? Silly comment from you. I did it myself 25 years ago - due to old landline push button phones.

Happened to my DH, by accident he had splashed some water on his phone, while he was wiping it off it somehow dialled 999!!He was trying desperately trying to stop the call going through, he didn’t realise it had actually rang until 1 minute later he got a call from a withheld number, it was the call handler asking if he was ok & safe! He had a bit of a stressful day at work…. his day was a series of unfortunate/funny events, which was made even worse by the call 😂 he was trying to stay as calmed while talking the person on the end 😬
We never realised this is what happens! His was a genuine accident but can see how people could abuse the system…prank calls ect

I recently witnesses a motorbike accident and called an ambulance. Whilst waiting to connect, I realised that another person was already on the phone to them- so I hung up. They did call back to clarify I was calling about the same incident- so not all are pocket calls or accidental calls.

Whatever happened to people telling their kids not to mess with things that don't belong to them, or that they are not allowed to go in Mummy's handbag or whatever?

In any case, it is not unknown for small children to ring 999 if the adult with them has a medical episode or other emergency, and they need to call for help.

Do not do this. The person taking the 999 call won't know you are ringing 101 and will still spend time researching the number to make sure its safe to call back (checking if domestic abuse linked to the number etc), creating an incident log, then calling back. If you hang up and ring 101, chances are you will be in a queue meaning when the 999 handler rings back they can't get hold of you.

They then have to look at getting subscriber checks done to try and get a location if the research was negative.

All police forces want you to stay on the line and explain.

If you do ring 101 to explain they will eventually match the calls up but by then its too late. Time has been wasted.

100% this. Excellent advice

@Redglitter I think we have similar jobs, I recognise your user name.

@MagentaRocks going by your last post there I'd say we definitely do 😉

I used worked in an office building, in reception. Police turned up because of a call cut off. It was a fax machine but the police officers had to see the machine and make sure the staff, a tenant company, were safe.

I accidentally called 999 the other day. I was in my car and trying to turn an interior light off that had come on over one of the rear doors. I was pressing various buttons with no luck when a voice boomed out ‘emergency, which service please.’ I had no idea that my car did this. Didn’t half make me jump. I did reply that I’d contacted them by accident though.

Not what I was advised by the actual 999 call handler. Just say "sorry mistake" then explain details to 101. By the time you've hung-up their already on another call. They don't have time to listen to your crap about how you were in the kitchen etc.

I'd say you were given bad advice from them then. If you're already connected to 999 staying on the line another 20 seconds to say sorry it was an accidental dial. Were all fine is honestly a much better option than potentially waiting 10 mins in a q for 101.

Its a lot more time effective for everyone involved.

Dropped/misdialled 999 calls are incredibly time consuming to deal with & takes a call handler or despatcher away from other things they should be doing. Getting a misdialled call from a call handler saying that they've spoken to the person saves time for everyone

Definitely bad advice. It's takes, on average 15 minutes to deal with an abandoned 999 call.

Saying sorry mistake does not mean we won't research and call back. If you are a victim of abuse you might be interrupted and say sorry, mistake and hang up. The call handler will then start researching to see if there is a history of domestic abuse and potentially send an officer.

If you stay on the line the call handler can ask questions like 'are you safe?' Etc to make sure you are not under duress before closing it down.

There's an article from a police force saying do not hang up and people clearly who know this saying to not hang up. It makes a massive difference if you just stay on the line and explain

I have accidentally called 999 and hung up, but it was before it was answered.

My daughter rang once as a toddler and babbled down the line before hanging up. I hadn’t realised and got a call back from the police, I was very confused and got a bit of a scolding!

A friend of mine with three children had a fire engine appear and realised one of them must have called. This was pre mobile phone so she couldn't move it.

She thought it was her middle child and was watching her like a hawk, meanwhile her youngest came running to say the fireman was back.

She was in hospital accommodation, the hospital fitted a shelf out of the reach of small children.

I used to have an emergency button on my landline, that was activated by a chinchilla on more than one occasion.

I'm another one who has a police visit after my son dialled 999. I was truly ashamed at having wasted her time.
She was really nice about it, didn't even lecture me (as perhaps she should have done). This was over 20 years ago now, though. And I suspect that the police weren't so overstretched at the time.