Forum Topic

112 number?

Can anyone confirm the use of this number from a mobile?=============A bit of useful advice - verified by the Dorset Police .The number does work from a mobile. This actually happened to someone's daughter.Lauren was 19 yrs old and in college. This story takes place over the Christmas/New Year's holiday break. It was the Saturday before New Year and it was about 1.00pm in the afternoon, and Lauren was driving to visit a friend, when an UNMARKED police car pulled up behind her and put its lights on.Lauren's parents have 4 children (of various ages) and have always told them never to pull over for an unmarked car on the side of the road, but rather wait until they get to a service station, etc So Lauren remembered her parents' advice, and telephoned 112 from her mobile phone. This connected her to the police dispatcher she told the dispatcher that there was an unmarked police car with a flashing red light on his rooftop behind her and that she would not pull over right away but wait until she was in a service station or busy area.The dispatcher checked to see if there was a police car where she was and there wasn't and he told her to keep driving, remain calm and that he had back-up already on the way. Ten minutes later 4 police cars surrounded her and the unmarked car behind her.One policeman went to her side and the others surrounded the car behind. They pulled the guy from the car and tackled him to the ground...... ..the man was a convicted rapist and wanted for other crimes. I never knew that bit of advice, but especially for a woman alone in a car, you do not have to pull over for an UNMARKED car.Apparently police have to respect your right to keep going to a "safe" place. You obviously need to make some signals that you acknowledge them I.e., put on your hazard lights) or call 112 like Lauren did.Too bad the mobile phone companies don't give you this little bit of wonderful information. So now it's your turn to let your friends know about 112 (112 is an emergency number on your mobile that takes you straight to the police because 999 does not work if you have no signal). This is good information that I did not know!Please pass on to all your friends, especially any females.

Graham Weeks ● 6467d8 Comments

I *think* that there is a system whereby you can always call emergency services (112 and 999 get to the same place) if your phone can reach *any* network, not just your own.So if you were a t-mobile customer in an area which had no t-mobile reception but which was covered by 02 for example, you wouldn't be able to make regular calls but emergency calls would be routed through 02.L

Leon Markham ● 6460d

Probably be charged with driving without DC&A for using a mobile while driving ..

Verification Required ● 6463d

My older phone will not connect 999 first time round, you have to redial, locked or unlocked. My newer phone is a flip phone and I haven't needed the emergency service yet.

Peter Wright ● 6464d

Richard is entirely correct in this reply.  112 is the international distress number, whereas we have 999 here and 911 in the USA.  I have a feeling that if you dial any of these numbers on your mobile, they will all get through to the emergency servicesYou may also wish to be a bit careful on your phone.  If you leave the keypad locked (ie normally you wouldn't be able to type a number in) but repeatedly hit the 9 number, you may see 999 come up.  The idea is that if you're in  a panic, you tend to need to get through to the number as quick as possible and not have to worry about unlicking the key pad.  Unfortunatly this means the 999 number often gets calls from people just having their phone in their pocket.Finally, the line mentioned about the 'no coverage' aspect.  Now I don't have my notes to hand, but I'm fairly certain that so long one of the networks that your phone is able to use in that three's coverage (and it's likely that most nowadays will be able to use O2 and Vodaphones 900MHz channel and T-Mobile and Oranges 1800MHz channel), then even if your own network doesn't provide coverage to where you are, you maybe able to get through using another network (as I said, I'll have to check that, as it was 10 years since I last saw those course notes).  I even think that if your serving site is full of other people making calls, then the network can terminate one of those calls to allow the emergency call to get through (although this would be very rare in London, since the network could get your phone to try and establish the call on a neighbouring site if there's coverage)

James Lockwood ● 6466d

112 and 999 work in exactly the same way from all phones in the UK, both fixed and mobile.  You will be connected to an emergency operator who will then connect you to whichever emergency service you require.It is not true that 112 connects directly to the police, nor that in the UK it works in some circumstances where 999 doesn't.112 works in most European countries including all of the EU with the exception at present of Bulgaria.http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/doc/factsheets/044-112-en.pdf

Richard Jennings ● 6467d

http://www.snopes.com/science/mobile.asp

Francis House ● 6467d

If you have no signal you are not going to get connected.

Francis House ● 6467d

What a sound piece of advice Graham. I shall certainly pass this on to my friends.I never heard of the 112 number before and the Mobile Companies should ensure that this information is available to their customers!Thanks for posting this info on the forum.Jean

Robert Julian Fernandez ● 6467d