Having had to use the 999 service myself this morning, in the small hours, I thought this was maybe an apt time to mention this wonderful service by way of a few small words. Something else the UK has to be proud of.
BTW, my circumstances meant I requested an ambulance, as I thought my wife was having a stroke, it was up there with one of the scariest moments of my life. The two paramedics that turned up were fantastic, calming both myself and my wife down and going about their business whilst allaying our fears that she had endured a stroke. They arrived within minutes of the call, and stayed with us for approx. 2hrs, until the situation became manageable by my wife. Fantastic, wonderful service.
BT's 999 emergency call service (The world's first), recently celebrated it's 75th anniversary after being launched on 30 June 1937. It was brought into being after the deaths of five women, in a fire at a London surgeons home in November 1935.
Glasgow was next to have the service, followed by its extention to all major towns and cities by 1948. The first week of service in 1937, saw more than 1000 calls made to the new number. This is compared with the current average of 597,000 calls made a week across the UK.
The operators at call centres around the UK, answer more than 98% of the 31 million calls made annually from fixed and mobile phones, within 5 seconds.As with most things, one doesn't really appreciate something until it's needed or it's taken away.
