Mindee dialed 999 oops

[cathtee]

This afternoon I quickly ran upstairs to the loo, left 19m sitting watching a bit of cbeebies usually just sits very still while I go, I came
down to find her with land line phone going pip pip pip saw green light on base and said who aare you phoning, took phone off her and
and hung up, few mins later it rang, nice man said hello this is the police is everything ok, I said yes, oh no did she ring the police,
he said someone from your number did, (Oh no) I said sorry little one got hold of the phone while i went to loo she only 19m, he said little angel, I said
yes so sorry thank you for checking No problem as long as everything is ok. Phone will firmly be well away from little hands in future.

good job i answered the call, it was a withheld and i sometimes ignore them, wonder if i would have had a policeman turn up

[PixiePetal]

my DD when she was 18 months did the same - I got the phone from her, put it down then picked it up to see if she had used it. I listened and a voice said (as if talking to small child) 'are you playing with the phone? ' I had to apologise and kept the phone out of reach after that!

[silvermist]

funny and nice that they rang to check xx

[eddie]

Little darlings! Makes you wonder how many times this happens!

[Tealady]

On my First Aid course the chap running it said most of the call to 112 (the alternative 999 number) are made by Tots as it's the first numbers they hit

[sophia36]

oooops!

This reminded me of something that happened to a friend of mine a few years ago. Her daughter was about 20 months old and had got hold of the phone and rung 999. The first my friend knew about it was when the police turned up at her door. They said that that a young child had made a 999 call from their address. They insisted on checking the entire house to make sure everything was ok as when the call had been made all the operator could hear was a young child babbling and 2 adults arguing in the background. My friend was having a meltdown over her husband not helping enough with the kids, house ect......
Needless to say she was absolutely mortified!!!!!!!!!

[AnneS]

oooooops

so far (touch wood) none of mine has done that

[jillplum]

Yes if there is no answer a policeman will call at your door! It happened to me and he hd to come inside the house to see everything was ok. He was very nice but I was mortified!

[gegele]

dd rang 999 when she was about 18months and my phone was out of batteries so it cut, I put it on the base not realizing what had happened and it rang i answered she said police and my phone cut again! I had to put phone on base and answer it with it on base when she rang AGAIN but base was on window ledge behind tv as not long enough cable... I had to tiptoe on a toy box to hear, people could see me in the street and teh police lady wasn't kind or understanding!!!!!! it was plainly embarrassing lol

[Mollymop]

My sister works for the police, she said that if you hit lots of numbers on the phone keypad all at once then it directs you through to the Emergency Services Call Centre - this is because if someone is very ill, hurt, etc then they usually can't phone properly, so pressing lots of random numbers will put you through to 999! This is how come kiddies manage to get through to 999 not cos they press just 122 or 999 and wait for the persom on the other end to answer. I guess this does make more sense!!!

[caz3007]

I was round a friends and we were going out shopping. She had children aged about 6 and 8. The older one came in with the phone and said there is a lady on the phone who wants to talk to you. Well he had rung 999 and said fire, friend tried to cancel the callout and the woman said she was unable to. We thought it was to scare us, and a few minutes later a fire engine turned into the road with all its blue lights ablaze. We both stood there wondering what to do and her idea was to sneak out the back door. I thought that wasnt a good idea as they may smash the door in. Anyway they were brilliant, said they had just sat down for their meal, but didnt mind. The spoke to both the boys telling them how dangerous it was to make a hoax call.

Still we had a houseload of fit firemen

[Velleity]

omg I had this and when they rung back it took me AGES to convince them I was actually ok.
He kept saying 'If you're not ok, but can't openly tell us, just cough twice now as a signal'.
Was mortifying.

[mushpea]

my daughter did it to me, the rang back asking if me or anyone else was hurt or had dialed 999 i said no then they ask if I had any small children in the house and it dawned on me what had happend,, I felt awful but the lady was really nice.

[bunyip]

I had exactly the same thing happen yesterday. Only the woman who called back was rather rude and patronising.

PC Plodette: "Did I know this sort of behaviour caused delays?"

Bunyip: "Yes, obviously, I do try make sure I minimise the risk of it happening."

PC Plodette: "Well just make sure you do."

Bunyip: "In that case, would it be reasonable to ask exactly how many 2yo's false alarms you were handling that delayed your officers' arrival by three hours when my elderly mother called you to say she had burglars downstairs in the house???"

[DickDock]

I appreciate what everyone is saying and the emergency operators do understand that small children do do these things, you can perhaps understand that they don't just have to deal with small children doing this, they have to deal with stupid teens, drunk idiots, not drunk idiots who think they can call 999 for stupid things. Do you not think this is a stressful job and for every prank, mistake or stupid call they get - potentially its stopping someone who actually needs helps - for whatever service is required. Those vital few seconds between life and death sometimes.
The operators are not responsible for the (non) deployment decision when someone is getting burgled etc - that is a police (now commissioners) remit so Bunyip you were telling the wrong person.

Just like in any profession or walk of life - you get those who deal with 'situations' with a nice calm dignifed manner - even when you get a slap across the wrist and those who treat you like a criminal for something your 2yr old does.

This is another of the reasons 999 is being phased out and its going over to 112 , as well as if you dial 112 as its satellite routed they can trace you even if you can't tell them.

[migimoo]

like bunyip I got a snotty follow up call basically telling me to control my son wasting police time....he was 2!!

[bunyip]

.....or in my mum's case, the vital 10,800+ seconds that could've meant the difference between life and death (or at least being terrified out of her mind.)

Yes, obvously I know the 'phone controller doesn't actually re-deploy the squad car from outside the nearest takeaway to the crime scene. But she could learn a little civility when dealing with us citizens. She's hardly going to get much co-operation if she keeps being shirty. Dog alone knows where they get these people from or what, if any training they receive. I called 999 to report a car theft in progress (last year, I think) to be told they had no police in the area and could I possibly make my presence felt and challenge the theives myself. Yes, sure, I'm going to get myself assaulted for the benefit of the insurance company - could I maybe pre-order an ambulance whilst I'm on the line?

As for the police commissioners, the public has recently indicated the level of confidence and trust with the miniscule electoral turnout.

When it comes to getting the plod out, I think most people realise it's a waste of effort. Save time - beat yourself up.

[migimoo]

I called 999 to report a car theft in progress (last year, I think) to be told they had no police in the area and could I possibly make my presence felt and challenge the theives myself. Yes, sure, I'm going to get myself assaulted for the benefit of the insurance company - could I maybe pre-order an ambulance whilst I'm on the line?

yup-had this too-rang to report a woman being assaulted and alleging she'd been raped in 'boyfriend's' car in the street,was waiting with her round the corner for police to come (with my dd and ds crying in my car) and was asked to drive back to boyfriend and get his car reg and describe him to them.....1)I live in that street and 2)I have my name and number in big orange letters on my car.....erm....NO!!??

oooh,I could rant all night about the police in my area!

(hope your mum was ok in the end bunyip)

[DickDock]

Agreed about the police but that is still not the operators fault or domain. Sorry what happened to your mum Bunyip and I do hope she was ok. We have been on the brunt end and I have to say that the police responded very quickly, probably though because we told them the burglars were about to be battered if they were caught by us.

Spare a thought for the operators, they have to make split decisions they also have to listen to very harrowing phone calls, its no wonder some of them are perhaps a little short on patience for what amounts to a wasted call. Remember as well they are the first port of call for other services too not just the police

[bunyip]

Yes, I realise I've crossed over the 2 issues of the operator's behaviour and the police's behaviour - and that they should, strictly speaking, be treated seperately. My point is that the operators won't get the public's cooperation if they continue to rudely treat citizens like infants. And service users simply don't distinguish between who is responsible.

I've worked in an equally stressful and much more exposed customer-facing situations (public transport) where you needed to gain people's cooperation or have a potentially dangerous situation to deal with. It wasn't my fault if a train was delayed by some idiot passenger further down the line, but I still had to deal with the complaints because people just see the effect it has on them. If I'd started being rude and patronising I'd have been clobbered much more regularly than I was - so at least the operator's split decisions and harrowing experiences are had from the safe distance of a telephone line, and not at the wrong end of a broken bottle.