Have you ever called the Emergency Services? (911.999 112, etc)

Heathrow

Yes, as in the airport.
Joined
Aug 2, 2008
Messages
6,390
Location
London, UK
Car(s)
1995 BMW 325i SE
The 999 emergency services available in the UK are as follows:

Police
Paramedics / ambulance
Fire & Rescue Service
Coast Guard
(Mountain & Cave Rescue is also called by the other emergency services, as required.)

I called the Fire service once, when I was sitting in my 3rd floor apartment in the office, using my PC like I am now. A car horn had started sounding and did not stop. After about 20 seconds I looked down to see which idiot was doing this or had a stupid car alarm.

Much too my surprise, was an old Volvo fully ablaze down in the parking area, not 4 meters away from the next apartment block.

Called the Fire service on 999, they already had had several calls about the incident.

The big red truck turned up in a few minutes and then proceeded to douse the fire.

According to the neighbourhood rumour mill, the fire was arson, started by a woman who torched another woman?s car, for now being with her former boyfriend. (Love triangle, FTL)

I thought about it after all the excitment died down, strange experience to call 999, which I have luckily not had to do since.

:)
 
Once.
When I was working at a local gas station there were a customer there who once in a while were extremely drunk and got really unpleasant/wouldn't leave/harrased me and other customers, so once I saw him stumbling towards the door I cut him of and got him to sit at a bench and called the cops, they came after about an hour and picked him up.
 
Many, many, many times as a first aider at work over the years!

Once for my ex girlfriend and once for an RTC. I'll soon be getting SENT to Cat A Ambulance calls :D
 
A few times.

I spent a summer at Uni working in the Halls of Residence as a Conference porter. I was on duty one evening while we were hosting a conference for the British Epileptic Assocation and they were have an end of conference disco. This girl came out of the disco and sat on one of the benches in the foyer, I guessed to cool down a bit (summer of 1990 in Ukania was a bloody hot one by anyone's standards). Next thing I know she's just keeled over and started seizing. Not one to panic or leave her on her own I put her in recovery and stayed with her, waiting for someone else to come out. After a few moments she came to and I helped her into the office where I could make her some tea. She went again. Luckily I had moved her to where there was a phone so I could deal with her while briefing the ambulance people and the nearest ambulance station was pretty close so they were there in a little over 5 minutes. By the time anyone else came out of the disco she was in paramedic hands. Turns out she had gone status so I'd done the right thing.

Then about 15 years ago I was car pooling into the office with some colleagues when I saw this guy just keel over from his bike onto the pavement as we cut through a residential street. Another epileptic guy. We all worked for this psycho asshole at the time who went off on one when we bowled in 20 minutes late. He soon shut the fuck up when we told him why.

Finally about a year later I'd been to some client meetings and was on the way back into the office, got stuck behind some Nissan or Toyota that was all over the road. Since it was before noon I figured probably not a drunk. Called the police and gave them all the details. Turned out to be an old boy suffering a diabetic coma. Had no clue where he was or how he'd got there.
 
 
One of the times at work that sticks out was the very last time I had to call an ambulance. I had a call on the first aid phone to go to the canteen as a guy was suffering chest pains. I got there and he didn't look too bad, not cold or clamy to the touch, no arm/shoulder/neck pain, no tingling, breathing fine. Just eaten his food so naturally you'd think indigestion, but obviously with central chest pains it's much better to be safe than sorry.. Dialled 999 and took him through to reception, got the defib but hid it behind the door as to not worry him, just incase. Paramedic in RRV arrives, handover all the info/past medical conditions etc i'd gotten off him previously, he hooks him up to the ECG and having studied ECG Rhythms on various medical courses, saw clear as day the guy was in the middle of a full blown MI.. My heart absolutely sank when i saw it, the paramedic was so damn calm and cool .. Started drawing up some Morphine before the ambulance got there, he got took away straight to angioplasty and is fine to this day! He gave me a thank you card from him and his wife which was really .. eye opening. Makes me realise just how badly i want to be a paramedic.. getting there slowly!
 
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Once. I think I mentioned it on here at the time.

I was driving home from Boston one night around 2am, and on the opposite of the highway I saw a ton of sparks and headlights going end over end. Before I realized that it was a car rolling over, an 18wheeler plowed right into it. I called 911, pulled over far enough onto the shoulder to completely out of the way of traffic, and backed up to get back to the accident (there was no one on the roads, so while still dangerous, I believed it was the proper thing to do - plus I was on a straight bit so I would be able to see headlights behind me from at least 0.75miles away). I couldn't run across the traffic lanes and climb the median (even though there was no traffic) so I called across to the truck driver who had aready got out if he was ok. Then I sat there and flashed my highbeams at oncoming drivers to warn them. Luckily(?) this happened less than a 2 miles from the State Police Highway Patrol barracks, and right by an offramp so there were toll booth works running to help with first aid kits, so help got there really quickly.


I've also had 911 called on me once when I totaled my car. I was perfectly fine and had already got out and called the PD local non-emergency number when the first passerby saw the wreck and came running up to me on the phone with the dispatcher.
 
I once called the police, after I was lucky to avoid a big piece of wood lying on the autobahn at a section with no speed limit. I really saw it at the last possible instance to avoid it.

Well... the police officer thanked me and told me to hold the line. But when he didn't come back after about 30km of driving i hang up.
Anyway, about 3 weeks later, they called me back, asked my personal details and for a statement if I had seen where the wood came from etc. But I had no idea. I asked if they found it and if everything was ok.

The officer told me, that a Audi behind me hit it, blew a tire, slammed into the crash barrier and another car also hit him. But no serious injuries... luckily. Thanks to my call, the police arrived right after the accident happed and maybe more damage and injuries were avoided.
 
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A few times. Once after a car accident in which the female driver of one of the other cars was hurt. Once when I watched my friends get into a massive car wreck right in front of me. At least once for a drunk friend (yes, he was that drunk). There have probably been others.
 
A couple of times. Once because a girl majorly wiped out on her bicycle in front of my house (actually, I let her husband borrow my phone to make the call), and once to report a completely psychotically dangerous driver; this guy was bound to kill someone the way he was going.

Some areas in the US also have 311, which is basically a non-emergency version of 911. I've called that a couple of times to report things like traffic signals not working.
 
We called 911 twice, both times to report that my dad's minivan was stolen from our driveway. (The van was stolen twice in two years). Weird thing, that the minivan was a 1992 Dodge Caravan base model. It's not like there weren't any nicer cars in my neighbourhood, the two neighbours beside our house both drove Lexuses. :dunno:
 
I did a few years back when I lived in Edinburgh. Called the police after one of me flatmates "friends" decided to drag a load of her "friends" in to our flat for our housewarming. They were totally uninvited then started kicking up shit when we tried booting 'em out. They completely ruined the stairway back downstairs to the street knocked all the lights of the walls, kicked in our neighbours doors etc...

Also, I rang for the police and ambulance when me father picked me up from Edinburgh to take me back home one afternoon. We were driving down the bridges in Edinburgh city centre an' I saw a guy get flattened by a double decker bus. I was shitting bricks. :( The guy literally went up in the air about 2 yard then travelled about another 5 yard along the road with his face it was HORRIBLE.
 
Only called 911 once. Was laying in bed trying to fall asleep and heard some loud pops and hisses. Went to the window to see two guys running away from a car in the parking lot below. Realizing they were vandalizing at least one car, I called 911 to report it. I probably could have done non-emergency but I was half asleep. Cops dropped by, took a report, realized there wasn't much they could do, and eventually took off. A single car had it's tires slashed and was spray painted a bit.

Also called non-emergency (regular phone number) a few nights ago to report a broken down car on the freeway in the left hand land on a corner (no shoulder). Scared the shit out of me too. Thankfully no one was in the lane to the right of me and I quickly moved over to avoid hitting it or slamming on my brakes. If there hadn't have been a car in front of me that did the same, I'm not sure I woulda seen it until much later. Scary thought.
 
Many, many, many times as a first aider at work over the years!

Once for my ex girlfriend and once for an RTC. I'll soon be getting SENT to Cat A Ambulance calls :D

Well done for being a first-aider, never thought about the peeps at work who do that having to call the paramedics.

* see above for inspirational story *

Makes me realise just how badly i want to be a paramedic.. getting there slowly!

Wow, that's a big change from your current career.
That's a great idea, go for it Jon, your personal experience will inspire you.

:cool:

(Also, sorry if some of you are re-living some traumatic experinnces, thinking about this subject.)
 
Well done for being a first-aider, never thought about the peeps at work who do that having to call the paramedics.



Wow, that's a big change from your current career.
That's a great idea, go for it Jon, your personal experience will inspire you.

:cool:

(Also, sorry if some of you are re-living some traumatic experinnces, thinking about this subject.)

It is a big career change but something i've always really wanted to do for a very long time. After i crashed my motorbike and very nearly died there was no question in my mind that, that was exactly what i was going to do! Those guys do an absolutely sensational job and i couldn't imagine a better career.. I'll be a qualified First Responder in the summer then onward, hopefully to be a paramedic with some more uni work.. I've never felt so damn determined in my life to achieve something.
 
Once to report a fire, for a wreck, to report a drunk driver going the wrong way(saw on news later he got in a wreck)

I also called highway safty hotline to report a medium fire and they said "unless its on the road we dont care"
 
Once, for a car that drove off the road. Got redirected 4 times until I got the correct town/county...

Yeah, one issue with cell phones...
 
I called in roadside fires a couple times this summer. No rain + huge drought + fire = scary combo.

Anyone who thought it was still a good idea to toss cigarette butts out the window this summer needed a swift kick in the balls.
 
Many times. I called when I saw an old lady drowning in the sea. My sister fished her out with the Sea-doo, but it was too late...pro-tip never stand on a beach when a helicopter lands. I called when I got shot. I was told I called after a co-worker and I got T-boned by a Honda Accord doing 45mph, but I don't remember anything from that entire evening. I called when whilst fueling I saw a robbery taking place inside the gas station...asshat didn't even make it out of the parking lot before the cops got there.
 
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