Dialling 112 instead of 999

[single]

Out of interest, does anyone know if the emergency services can handle positions given in Ordnance Survey grid or Lat/Long? Certainly, when walking in the countryside, for example, I wouldn't have the first idea of postcode.

They must be able to.I just typed a randow lat long into google and position was on a map in 0.36 secs.

 

[prv]

They must be able to.I just typed a randow lat long into google and position was on a map in 0.36 secs.

No good if they don't have access to Google Maps on their callcentre screen though. From what I've heard, the people in the call centre have to stick rigidly to an approved script, they're not allowed to use much initiative

Pete

 

[prv]

My understanding has always been 999 is like a mayday and 112 is more like a panpan.

Sure you're not thinking of 101?

112 is exactly equivalent to 999, the two numbers both go to the same place in the same way.

Pete

 

[rivonia]

The one problem with 112 as an emergency number is that PABX's have 9 as the outside line facility so you can just keep hitting 9's to get the emergency service. I can't remember what number got an outside line on the continent.

If I remember correctly it is o

Peter

 

[Hugh Foulis]

I was co-author of the emergency communications plan for Cumbria and completed the communications national emergency plan training before doing so. (Not the most stimulating day out I have ever had).
In the UK one can dial 999 (UK legacy),112 (pan European) or 911(North America) and the effect is exactly the same from landline or mobile; an operator asking which service you require. The location of a mobile can be triangulated, not with huge accuracy, and depends on how many masts it can 'see', but there is no discretion between the numbers, they are just three funnels that lead to the same pipe.

HF

 

[single]

Sure you're not thinking of 101?

122 is exactly equivalent to 999, the two numbers both go to the same place in the same way.

Pete

Sorry , yes. I'm confused now, speaking to a few people while i was out and none of them knew about 101 or 122.Seems a campagne might help.

 

[VicMallows]

122 is exactly equivalent to 999
Pete

Pete, suggest you correct your typo, or people really will get confused
(122 should of course be 112)

 

[prv]

Pete, suggest you correct your typo, or people really will get confused
(122 should of course be 112)

Doh!

Corrected

Pete

 

[macd]

PRV, you'll be hearing from my solicitor. Repeated calls to 122 brought not a single fireman as I watched my house burn down.

 

[prv]

PRV, you'll be hearing from my solicitor. Repeated calls to 122 brought not a single fireman as I watched my house burn down.

My advice is worth exactly what you paid me for it

Pete

 

[AntarcticPilot]

If you have Google maps on your phone, it will give a rough indication of where you are - or sat least mine does. Presumably thi is how they can locate the approxinmate position of an emergency call.

It is accurate to a locality, and although sometimes it can find you to within 50 metres it is certainly not reliable enough to act as an emergency marker, and it can be up to half a mile adrift. Presumably they use the same technology when you place an emergency call - but it could be a long wait if that's all the info they have to go by!

I live in Littleport, a village north of Ely. It isn't a small place - population about 10,000, and it is quite close to the tekkie centre of the UK at Cambridge (a.k.a. Silicon Fen!). As far as I can see, the mobile signal locates me to about 3 km, which is the circle of error that Google maps gives before I pick up a GPS fix. It was even worse when I sailed out of InverKip - the local phone mast was down towards Largs! All this stuff about the mobile phone knowing your location to a few metres is nonsense, unless you happen to be in a location with a dense mobile phone net, and the phone is visible at several masts so that the system can triangulate your position. Yes, there is clever software that uses this information - but it doesn't work in the majority of places, especially places of interest to sailors. In most places, all it knows is the location of the nearest phone mast; which can be kilometres away. The phone can't normally access the GPS in the phone - the GPS system eats the phone's batteries, so it is only powered when an application that uses it is started.

Of course, if we sail to the north and west, we often have NO mobile phone signal!