in thinking that this is a very odd response to a wrong number

[Jacanne]

DH programmed the telephone numbers into our new phones and obviously put my brothers number in incorrectly. DD1 has just phoned there by pressing the correct button to talk to her Nanny. I heard her say "hello, it's Maddy, Alison. Can I talk to Nanny". Then she started crying and hung the phone up. When I asked her what was wrong she said that Alison didn't know her and didn't want to talk to her. So I rang up and someone answered - I realised that it was the wrong number and apologised. The woman said, very aggressively, "Did you phone up just now". So I said that my little girl had, she thought it was her Aunt's number. The woman said, "Is her name Maddy?" So I said yes it was and the woman said "we thought it was a crank phonecall, someone pretending to be Madeleine McCann, we were quite upset about it".

I was quite stunned by this, surely your first thought would be, "oh a little girl called Maddy has phoned up and got the wrong number". It is quite a common name after all. Fair enough if we'd misdialled the McCanns but as far as I know they don't live in our neighbourhood.

GG, maybe an adult but can you imagine a small child being sick enough to make that kind of call, and she does sound like a very small child.

My dd was once having a tantrum and I asked her brother to call my mum as I was being kicked and punched at the time and couldn't get to the phone. (I thought a quick chat with nanna might calm her down, it usually did).

I hear him talking on the phone in a very strange way and realised he's dialled the wrong number, the woman on the other end can hear dd screaming, and she's asking him for his name and address .

I panicked, shouted for him to put the phone down which must have made it worse! To that lady: my kids are both fine, i'm sorry I didn't just pick up the phone and tell you that .