wibu to have dialled 999 sheep in the road?

[fteguu123]

Genuinely don't know if I was being unreasonable this morning. I live on a road which is long but you can only drive out one end. The other end has alleyway leading to another road. My road backs onto large field full of sheep. This morning at 8.15 approximately 50 sheep were running around the road and in gardens. The primary school is less than 10 minute walk away and children would soon be leaving to walk to school. I immediately rang 999 for the police. Police woman said he'd send someone out to them. Speaking to other people since and all surprised I rang emergency number. Wibu?

Yes, I think YABU.

Ring the farmer, or if you really have no idea which farm they are from, ring the district vet or the non-emergency number. Sheep on the loose are not an emergency.

Did they look like this?

Not unreasonable. Animals in the road can be pretty dangerous and if you were unable to alert their owners immediately, that was the best thing to do

They're only sheep, not wild bears... If it's not a major, busy road where a terrible accident looked imminent I'd have called the non-emergency number (assuming I didn't know who they belonged to, in which case, just alert the farmer). The school children are irrelevant because they are only sheep and not a particular danger to the children.

Of course you YABU!

101 and local farmer. 999 is for accidents and emergercies... 50 sheep on a motorway/dual carriageway/fast A road, yes. Quiet, one way country road? Not so much!

And what have children walking to school got to do with it being an emergency?

Sheep in the roads and gardens are a daily occurrence near us, never even occurred to me to call the police. They would need to spend all day rounding them up near us.

I think it depends on the road, busy road with sharp bends where an accident is more likely, yes 999. Quiet residential road with good visibility I'd probably have rung the non emergency line! All depends. School children walking to school wouldn't have concerned me, sheep are pretty docile, but school traffic on a busy road when there were sheep around would. All depends on the situation really!

YWBU. You should have called 101.

I live rurally. Sheep are always on the road.

Round here, a car flashing its lights as it comes towards you doesn't mean there's a speed camera ahead...

Would never occur to me to phone the police. Sheep are pretty good at getting out of the way, assuming you drive carefully when near them.

Goodness me, there are sheep or wild ponies or cows on the roads where I live all the time. Even outside my house as I write.There are rarely any accidents. Just slow down and they tend to trot off out if your way (well, cows can be stubborn sometimes, admittedly).

Dialling 999 is completely unnecessary.
YWBU

YABU, you should have phoned 101 if you didn't know who the farmer was.

I grew up rurally and we sometimes has sheep in our garden or in he road. It was hardly an emergency.

I've called the non emergency line for sheep when I couldn't get the farmer.

They noted it and asked if they got from the B road to the dual carriage then to call back as an emergency. I assume from their reaction it's something they deal with.

I think you probably didn't have many options without knowing the farmer's number.

I called 101 the other day after my son told me he saw some people having a bonfire (debris/weeds etc) on the ROOF of a petrol station.

I felt stupid. They were glad I had called.

Sometimes there isn't another good option.

Oh and I called 999 when we saw a horse loose on the dual carriageway last year. I hope that was the right thing to do.

Anastasie I would call 999 if I saw any livestock on a dual carriageway or motorway.

Not sure about a small lane - think I'd have rung the local farmer myself, or at worst 101! - but for a dual carriageway or motorway, I ring the Highways Agency, and have done before when a couple of chairs fell off the roof of a car on the M5, and when some boxes fell off a truck. They responded pretty quickly - within seconds of us phoning about the chairs, the signs on the overhead gantry had changed the speed limit and warned of obstruction, and within a couple of minutes traffic police and highways agency cars were on the scene. My parents were driving about 3 or 4 minutes behind us and were overtaken by the emergency vehicles.

anastasie, absolutely the right thing to do, in that case.

Highways agency Emergency line, that is! They do have a dedicated numbers for reporting obstructions on dual carriageways and motorways...

You did the right thing. I would have been glad if it had my sheep you rang up about. (And I do have sheep!) Sheep are valuable animals. Try get to know your farmer neighbours though.

Never knew that Jeff.
I remember in the USA driving with a friend and she called the Highway Police to report some pedestrians on the side of the motorway and I remember thinking what a good idea it was and if only we had that. turns out we do!

101 I think unless dual carriageway. i live in Essex near to a busy dual carriageway and unfortunately loose horses have caused fatalities before now so should definitely be reported as an emergency. Not in a quiet cup de sac though.

Seems a bit of an extreme reaction to me but then I live in Wales.

Ditto

I'd of gone with 101 if I didn't know whose they were. Usually though somebody who knows whose they are lets the owner know here.

Oh phew

Hate making that decision iykwim

Were all sheep done for antisocial behaviour?

Doesn't matter in the great scheme of things. Control room would have referred the call to the local policing team (PCSO) to deal with if they had anyone available at the time.