Plea to only call 999 in an emergency
Emergency services and call handlers are gearing up for their busiest night of the year by revealing some of their less welcome calls – including 'What time does Sainsbury's close?'
Six BT call centres handle 999 calls across the UK, passing calls on to the relevant emergency service.
Staff handle more than 34 million calls – an average of 93,000 per day – with calls to 999 expected to surge in the build up to New Year and teams working around the clock to cope with the increased demand.
Ian Watson, 999 Manager at BT, said: “Our busiest period of the year is from about 9pm on New Year’s Eve to 3am on New Year’s morning when we receive almost half a day’s calls in just six hours, with a peak of up to 9,000 calls per hour.”
The greatest demand is on the police service.
Police control room manager Jane Larkin said: "The majority of these calls are from people in genuine need of policing services such as reporting people as missing, concern for people’s safety, attendance at serious road traffic collisions and violent incidents where excessive drinking has been a factor.
"In recent years there have also been requests for assistance caused by extreme seasonal weather patterns, such as flooding and heavy snow conditions.”
Handcuffs
But she revealed some less well-judged requests to the police, including requests for a lift home because no taxis are available.
Officers have also been asked by a caller: “My mobile phone is not working – can you help?”
A man who woke after drinking heavily discovered he was wearing a pair of handcuffs and dialled 999 to ask how to remove them, while another caller who couldn't sleep asked if officers could recommend a solution.
Jeremy Brown, head of emergency operations centre at West Midlands Ambulance Service, said: "Our staff work incredibly hard to make sure people get the help that they need as quickly as possible. On average they answer the call within just three seconds of it being put through by our colleagues at BT.
"At this time of year when our teams are dealing with a high volume of calls, we would urge people to think carefully before calling 999. The line exists to help in an emergency and calling unnecessarily distracts from those in need. If you are unsure whether to ring, try the 111 service first as even if you need an ambulance, it won’t delay help coming.”
On an average day, 49 per cent of calls to the emergency services were to the police, 47 per cent were for the ambulance, four per cent to the fire service and fewer than one per cent to the coastguard.
