To ask why you've phoned the police?

[oneskip]

It's given as advice on here all the time but who has ever dialled 999 and was it for something major?

I've called for football fans fighting and letting off flares at cars, so genuine emergency.

101 when both our cars were broken in to as were many along our road and surrounding roads. It was a school holidays and before ring doorbells existed but a person on neighbouring street had CCTV and they were known to police and got caught very quickly.

999 when I was a student living in inner city Birmingham. A woman was screaming out of the top of her window, it was just the top bit that opened to call the police as he was trying to kill her. She was squashed up against the window and really screaming through the tiny gap. It was 30 years ago but I will never forget those screams, she was rescued by the police.

Once when I was collecting a supermarket order (in broad daylight!) two cars came to a sudden stop nearby - clearly there had been some altercation and both men got out, shouting at the other, but one had a meat cleaver he was wielding 😳😳😳
I had to remain in my locked car as I had my young son with me.

Another occasion where a male and female couple seemed to be having a drunken argument, but she seemed very upset and he was shouting obscenities at her.

I have also done 101 online for minor things like an abandoned car near our house.

On all occasions, the police were great.

I called when I found a naked toddler wandering about 10ft away from a busy A road.

Same here. I'm 70.

I called a while ago when I couldn’t raise my elderly neighbour. He was a man who had a routine like clockwork so when he didn’t answer the door or phone at a pre arranged time I knew something was up.

They arrived an hour later, an hour after that they had a team there to gain entry and found him on the bathroom floor.

Sadly he passed away a few days later but I was glad he was found and didn’t die on his bathroom floor. He was 93.

top of the range range rover illegally parked with the doors open, and a personalised number plate (can't remember what) that made me think it was gang related. according to local newspaper stash of drugs & arms were inside. It was a private road and they'd never normally turn up.

Spotted a gang of boys concealing something in the bushes next to my apartment - I suspected knives/guns etc.

Hearing threatening aggressive DV type argument in the street outside my home.
Hearing threatening aggressive DV type argument in the apartment next door.

Argument in the park between teenagers when I looked up & realised one of them was waving a machete type knife around.

Cyclist knocked off bike by large lorry.

101 for Unleashed dangerous-breed looking dogs in a park that was supposed to be dog free. they said it was a matter for the council, but coincidentally the police turned up and arrested about 20 people for drinking in a no-alcohol zone within about twenty minutes.

TBF - they've turned up pretty promptly for all of those.

Online report for one of those potential scams where a biker stops dead in front of you & claims dangerous driving - I posted on here about that one because I wasn't sure what to do.

I was once walking through town on my way home from a night out and saw a women being taken down a back alleyway by a bloke. She was very drunk and barely able to walk, he was big and had her completely in his grip. He saw me looking and we made eye contact. He quickly dragged her out of my site. I called 999 and stayed where I was - I was scared to go after them as this was a big menacing looking bloke. But wanted to be near as I would have gone if I heard any screaming. The police turned up very quick on foot as they were round the corner, they intervened and took the woman home. She was apparently there by choice and the man was let go, but I don’t think she had a clue what was happening, so was glad I saw her!

Once when I was overtaken by two lads racing each other along a 40mph road at goodness knows what speed whilst they threw bottles and cans at all the cars they passed. I managed to get the make and partial registration numbers of both cars so hopefully they were caught.

Another time when there was a huge altercation just outside my flat where a man was screaming at his female passenger and banging his hands repeatedly on the steering wheel, telling her to go and pick the fucking kid up from school then he was going to punch them both. The police didn’t turn up for ages and they’d gone by then. Despite giving a full description of both people, the car make, model and registration number and the names of several other witnesses, the police said there was nothing they could do as there was no cctv footage!

I've called for a neighbour when her drunk son was trying to get into her house and hurt her. Several others had called as well, the mother eventually let him in and the dispatcher could hear her screaming.

I've also called for a man walking along a unlit stretch of dual carriageway in the dark using his phone as a torch. Apparently several others had also called then as well.

When I had covid in 2020 and was delirious and struggling to breathe (with hot red patches spreading up my arms and legs), DH was worried and asked should he call an ambulance. I mumbled no, try 111. He misheard, dialled 911, was diverted to 999 and when they asked which service, he blurted out PARAMEDICS! I had no energy to intervene and they arrived an hour later - they were lovely and so kind. They wanted to take me in due to tachycardia and reduced breath sounds on one side, but my oxygen levels weren't too bad (and there wasn't anything anyone could give me to make me feel any better) so I declined. Recovered about 10 days later.

I called 101 for same reason and they said I should have dialled 999. Sheep not cows

A few times.

1. 2 random men asleep in a car on my drive (they were waiting for a neighbour to deliver some bad news but got the wrong house).
2. People in the garden (turns out they were the police looking for someone).
3. Man shouting and waving a baseball bat in our street.
4. Woman off her face at 8.30am shouting and zig zagging about in the road outside our house, stopping traffic and scaring kids walking to school.

In all cases the police responded within a few minutes. For no 2 they rang back to explain. For 3 and 4 other people had also reported the incidents. They deescalated 3. The woman in 4 was taken away in an ambulance after much persuasion by ambulance staff and police.

I called 101 after my teen son was assaulted at the park by some shitheads. The police were great and liaised with the school to identify the perpetrators.

Ihave a few times.

one when a group were attacking a local Asian shop/halal butcher shop. It stemmed from racism for the abuse I heard being shouted. There was blood in the street after so there must have been violence but as far as I found out no hospital treatment and mob were all arrested.

2 different times for separate neighbours (different years, different areas) where I heard domestic violence. Very glad I called the second time as I heard her leave with a suitcase in the middle of the night never to be seen again after the police had picked him up after my call.

two different times for another neighbour who (is an arsehole) but has quite severe mental health issues.

1st time
in the middle of the night for a psychotic episode where he was smashing up his flat breaking the glass then throwing stuff including tv and furniture out the top floor windows running in and out of the house and up and down the street screaming etc. police came and I assume he was sectioned as he disappeared for a couple of months before coming back looking much better.

2nd time
he started screaming out of his back windows at a landscaper I had hired who at that moment was taking a wheel barrow of gravel round to another part of the garden to lay.
as I went out to see if the gardener was ok and why the neighbour was shouting the neighbour had managed to run down two flights of stairs and was running down the pavement full speed at him. While the poor gardener had a shovel in his hand in front of his chest like a shield crying Jesus protect me from this devil. Evil will not prevail the lord will protect me.
I jumped in between them and unexpectedly seeing me caught neighbour off guard so he stopped dead (luckily for me) I then with the gardener behind my back managed to manoeuvre him to my front door to get him in the house while shouting for dp to call the police and bring me the phone all With neighbour Screaming that I was an ugly witchy bitch and I can’t stop him. by this time dp had also come out and while he was still screaming I think my previous interactions before this when I caught him out bullying another neighbour with vulnerabilities had meant he knew he wouldn’t get away with scaring or intimidating me and dp was also there so attacking wasn’t an option anymore.

i intervened without really thinking about it because I knew the gardener had been hired by the team because they knew him through church (my friend knew them through her church so recommended team to me) as he was the pastors son, he had sen issues and other issues so it was a way for him to be in work but protected by his fellow church members in a job he liked and it helped his confidence etc. so I knew he was completely unable to cope with something like this!

anyway police came dealt with neighbour (no arrest) they told me he was quite obviously unwell but unless gardener wanted to press charges he wasn’t going to be arrested and was stable enough that no section was appropriate.

I called the landscaping team with the poor man crying in my hallway and they arrived and took him home and I never saw him again but heard he was shaken but ok. They replaced him with their biggest roughest looking man who obviously neighbour completely left alone. I was mortified as had I known I would have warned them in advance. They were ok with me about it. I still feel terrible about it though!

this neighbour then went on to try the same with another a fencer in the street a couple of months later so it was the first time with me but became a pattern!

he also now screams at a local dog walker with a yapping dog so I think noise sets him off.

I’m sorry that post ended up massive!!!

I have had to call an ambulance for others twice too

I've called it so many times. Many medical incidents as well as needing the police, such as when someone tried to force entry into my house, when my ex attacked me, when I have heard neighbours arguing and the woman was shouting for him to get off her. I saw a man dragging his gf down the road by her hair, saw a woman drag her gf into their house by her neck etc.

So many more but that is what comes to mind.

Oh also when I had my windows smashed.

reading through these, it's amazing how crap 999 handlers can be if you don't know the postcode.
The machete in the park incident above "St James Churchyard, on the corner of X street & Y close" - yes, but what's the post code? - repeadedly.
I have what three words on my phone now, would use that.

@DimplesToadfoot I'm so sorry that happened to you.

When they came out to 'scold' you and realised what had actually happened, did they at least apologise?

Oh my goodness, no police turned up when they were smashing her windows? That must have been so scary for her.

I've only called it once - when the car in front of me skidded and slammed into the central barrier of the motorway. Very scary.

Only ever had to do it in medical emergencies, both because my mum and dad have had chest pains

There was a gang of guys smashing in a van across from us one night, another night a gang of men all got out of a car and did what looked like a drug deal (different house). First time they took over an hour to come, second time they sped by after the car almost instantaneously

999 - watched the house across the road being burgled ( this was in the late 90s so I don't think 101 was a thing )

999 - intruders in our house .

101 - walking home and came across a ( at midnight ) teenager screaming outside and stepfather screaming at her and locking her out and her friend out . Approached the friend asked if she needed help ... said her mum was trying to sort her a taxi ( mum had had a drink ) ... I still called 101 ... felt I was being a nuisance but 101 said I was not only caller ... stayed in background until police arrived then left

I think I've called 3 times
> a man beating up his girlfriend outside my house
> a woman trying to jump off a bridge
> to report an obviously drunk driver

I’ve called 999 once for myself during a domestic incident.

When I was alone in the house and a man was trying to break in.

Have called 101 for a lone toddler found in the street.

Also 101 for an intoxicated man who was lying in the street outside our house, who became aggressive when we tried to help him.