What is the British equivalent of the US emergency phone number "9-1-1"?

high_flyer

999 Jan 06 07, 1:27 PM

Baloo55th

.. unless you're using a mobile phone, when it's far better to use 112. If you are out of signal from your own service provider, 112 will connect you to any other available service compatible with your phone. 999 can only connect you to your own service provider. Jan 06 07, 5:33 PM

satguru

112 also has a slightly more dubious history. Being British we like our own rules and are the only country in the EU not using 112. However years ago (at least 10) they sneaked the alternative into our country as a second choice planning to remove 999 as soon as they could. They are still waiting for the opportune moment as they only want one standard number and it won't include our traditional 999. Oddly when there were only dial phones 999 was the 4th longest 3 figure code to use as each number turned the dial that many units, but was also easy for blind people to locate or use in the dark so there was a good reason for it. Jan 06 07, 7:29 PM

lanfranco

The British actor/singer Michael Crawford once wrote a funny article for a Los Angeles publication in which he described witnessing a parking-lot mugging from the window of his L.A. hotel room. His immediate reaction was to dive for the phone and dial "999." "This is very effective," he wrote ruefully, "if you happen to be trying to reach Scotland Yard." Jan 06 07, 8:26 PM

carly83

999 but 112 is much better from a mobile as baloo55th said 112 is much quicker on a mob Jan 07 07, 4:03 AM

Baloo55th

The reason for 999 was that it was easy to find in the dark, and hard to dial by accident. Two fingers on the holed by the 'stop' gave you the position, and as you had to take the dial right round, it was almost impossible to do it by accident. Or for a cat to dial it - I remember hearing dialing noises from the hall once when I was the only human in the house, and finding a cat sitting happily dialing random numbers. Receiver was still on, though. Hadn't worked that out. Jan 07 07, 6:07 AM

zh1322

Thanks for the responses. Its interesting to read the background information and the little tidbits that come from personal experience. I too once witnessed my cousins' cat operating a rotary dial phone. Their phone eventually had to be hung a good 6 feet off the ground to keep the cat from playing with it. Jan 07 07, 2:57 PM

Cena_Champ

999.. but 112 is bette for Cell phones or mobile phones. Jan 07 07, 3:25 PM