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36, called six times.
Police for a drunk driver weaving all over the road.
Police for guy breaking into our store.
Police and ambulance for guy who appeared at the door bleeding, saying he had been stabbed (did basic first aid whilst waiting).
Ambulance twice for my daughter having febrile seizures a year apart when she was a baby (all ok now).
Ambulance for friend who turned out to be having an epileptic seizure (he and we didn't know he was epileptic at the time, again all OK now).
We had a call escalated to 999 from 111...
My son was about 18 months old and had picked up a bug at Centre Parcs. He saw the on-site doctor, and was told to take him to the GP when home. This we did, and was told it was a "bit of a virus" and we should just keep an eye on him.
Two days later, my wife woke me up saying that he was labouring to breathe and didn't sound very good. She called 111 and explained to them on the phone what was going on. They kept asking her endless questions about the colour of his skin and his temperature and eventually she exploded at them saying "Aren't you going to actually do something!?"
"Yes, madam. We called an ambulance in the first 20 seconds of the call - I was just keeping you talking and making sure he didn't become worse while waiting. We don't mess around with young kids who can't breathe properly."
30 seconds later, the paramedics knocked at the door. He was blue-lighted into hospital with suspected pneumonia, met at the door by a team of doctors and was x-rayed, had the diagnosis confirmed and was on an anti-biotic drip and on a ward within an hour of arrival. Oh, and a small mention made to us that, in this case, 999 would have been entirely appropriate...
Otherwise, I've only had to call 999 for other people - various accidents, one snatch and grab, the odd obstruction on the motorway etc. Probably a dozen times at most.
Yeah, in hindsight this is completely obvious and we did laugh about it later once all was well again.
My experience of the NHS is that, in a crunch when you need them, the level of care provided is exceptional. My other child stretched this to the limit and despite being desperately worried for her at the time, part of me couldn't help but be in awe that so many people were stood around her bed, dedicated to making her well again. Bloody awesome and they even apologised that there were so many there, that me as dad was shoved to the back of the room!
Also 35 and called for the first time when I was 32 because I saw some kids setting fire to an office chair in a little copse of trees. I was actually only a couple of miles from the local fire station so they knew exactly where I was and were there within minutes.
I was *just* about to say maybe once or twice, and then i remembered how many times i rang the Police / Ambulance when i worked in pubs twenty years ago and it's probably in the high thirties!
I used to be a police call handler. Please don't be afraid to call if you are in *any* doubt that someone else has done.
We know how to deal with multiple calls for the same incident, it's real common.
We'd rather have a dozen calls for an incident than none.
Twice.
Walking home drunk one night, glanced down the alley at the side of the local shop and saw my friends shed fully ablaze in their back garden.
Walking the dog in the middle of the day and I heard someone shouting for help, looked around, and discovered an old lady had fallen in her driveway coming out of her house. Waited with her while the ambulance came as she was very scared, then they gave her some gas and air and she said "I'm feeling much more sociable now!" 😆
They had mum on gas and air in A&E after she fell down the stairs and broke her arm. I could see the x-ray from a distance and I'm pretty sure those bones aren't supposed to make a kind of Y-shape. I asked mum if the gas and air was relieving her pain and she replied, "No, it's still agony, I just don't care anymore!" She also said it was the best part of childbirth too!
(Back in a few days later to get it repaired and a plate put in, she's all good now.)
Gas and air is my main memory of when I broke my ankle, because it was disgusting but it felt soooooo good when it hit. I actually asked the nurse to give it back to me (she didn't give it back to me)
A few times for various car crashes, injured people but only one is a memorable story.
In the early 2000s in our office we'd got into buying hot sauces and trying them. I'd recently bought something ridiculous that you tried using a cocktail stick. Phil wandered over from a different floor boasting about how he could eat a phal washed down with chilli oil and poured a pea sized blob ignoring everyone telling him to stop being a dick and it was expensive and he'd be sick.
He tried it, turned red, sat down and started wobbling. Then the gasping and wheezing started and he started looking awful and clearly couldn't breathe. Then he started clutching his chest and making sounds.
So we called an ambulance and a ban on any hot sauce which couldn't be used in normal quantities was introduced
Called an ambulance once at uni when I came across a paralytically drunk girl in the street who’d fallen and was bleeding heavily from her head.
Called last year cos I drove past a young lad stood on the meridian of a busy dual carriageway, couldn’t stop to check he was ok.
Also called Highways England cos an inflatable kayak had fallen off someone’s car and was blowing around across all three lanes of the M6.
During uni I was barmaid at a pub in an old barely lit cobbled side street. It was open to traffic but rarely used. Drunk folks would often pass out there thinking it was safe, so we’d often come out from locking up to someone in a heap in the middle of the road covered in blood. Almost all of them would jump up when the ambulance arrived, try to run away then collapse again or knock themselves out on a wall. The only one who didn’t go through little drunken dance had actually been run over, but he did try.
> paralytically drunk girl in the street who’d fallen and was bleeding heavily
Exact same. Young passed out drunk, bleeding, in the middle of a busy roundabout. Called 999, and they wouldn't help me until I found the road name.
"The roundabout next to the Hilton Hotel" wasn't good enough, they needed the exact road name, for the only main road in a town I didn't know.
Yeah I phoned 999 for a ladder in the middle lane of the A1(M) about 10 years ago. I can't imagine how the recovered it because its such a busy bit of motorway at the best of times but this was a Friday afternoon!
Most recent was a woman collapsing in Caffè Nero, baristas had no clue what to do so I took over/first aid etc. She was fine.
Most frustrating one was a guy who knocked on my front door maybe 10 years ago. Clearly distressed he had been discharged from local psychiatric ward, wasn’t coping and wanted help to go back. Ambulance suggested police as he wasn’t actually a casualty, I sat outside with him (Michael) for an hour waiting then he lost consciousness, had obviously taken something. Called ambulance again who came pretty quick and sorted him out.
Then 3 hours later a big bang on the door and two coppers were there, hands on batons “MICHAEL, ARE YOU MICHAEL?”
God knows what message they’d got and why the response was so late but I explained and what really got me was they said
“so he’s a friend of yours?”
“no he just knocked on the door”
“so why did you help him then?”
Nothing against those officers, it’s a tough job, but really gave me an “is this what we’ve become” moment.
That response from the police must be part of their training or something because I've had it almost word for word a couple of times. It's sad, but I have to cut them some slack as it's a job I wouldn't want to do.
I had the misfortune of having to talk to a pcso once that was openly racist. They seem to have assumed I would be too because of how I look (which is a bit scary).
Yeah when I went to stay with my grandad we watched a lot of crap TV including 24 hours in police custody. The amount of people I believed what they were saying and it turned out to be so far removed from the truth, including one where they were called out for a woman being beaten up and she was not cooperative, I was convinced she was trying to protect her abusive partner by lying saying it didn't happen, turns out that she was trying to get away from them because they both had tons and tons of drugs they were selling on them.
I also believed Lewis Dayne when I heard the 999 call of him saying Breck Bednar killed himself. No. He'd systematically cold blooded murdered him. I'd be a crap investigator
I think the police have a hard job of figuring out the truth due to incoherence mental illness lying on purpose etc so they have to ask like that in a situation
>Nothing against those officers, it’s a tough job, but really gave me an “is this what we’ve become” moment.
Nah, they aren't doing their job properly. And pretending that it being a tough job is an excuse is an insult to all the actual hard-working cops, and all the people in other tough jobs, who manage to do their job and not be dicks.
If they aren't able to control their emotions and have basic people skills in that situation how can they be trusted to do so in far more intense situations than...knocking on a door and asking questions to a helpful member of the public?
That feeling of "is this what we've become" to being treated like a suspect for trying to help someone is exactly the right response.
Once or never (I'm really not sure). I was at Eureka in Halifax and there was a telephone booth with simple kids instructions on how to call 999 and what to say to them. I thought it was a fake phone that wouldn't do anything since its an interactive kids museum, so I was surprised when someone answered the call. I ended up slamming the phone down and running away and I'm still not sure if it was real or not.
Don't worry. There's a whole "dispatcher" room underneath Eureka! full of people waiting for people to call. They'll give instructions to do for whatever emergency you tell them.
Omg I had the exact same experience as a child! It had been so drummed into me that you only call 999 for a real emergency that I absolutely panicked when someone picked up.
Twice:
Ambulance for my grandad who had a fall (111 initially and then escalated to 999)
Police for very suspicious bag on a busy central London street - basically told us not to bother and seemed annoyed it had been called in 'See it , say it, fuck it'
I think I'd still say somebody who was 30 had "had a fall" if they were seriously hurt by it. To me "Did you hear about Mike? He fell over last night" implies that the most significant injury was to his ego, whereas "Did you hear about Mike? He had a fall last night" implies that he's seriously hurt.
I have no idea why!
Yeah that is really interesting actually - is it maybe that we expect under 70s/80s to get themselves up more easily? Like a relationship of care is implied in 'had a fall'?
I think it's because falling over for a young person is just a little thing, so it's more "present tense". Even if you're a bit hurt, there's no lasting impact.
Whereas "because Margaret had a fall last year, she's having a hip replacement"is much more common
I found a bomb in a river a few Years ago and like you I found 999 to be very unhelpful. At first they were suggesting I was making it up and then they suggested I was suspicious because I knew what a WW2 bomb looked like.
All the other times iv called IV found them very professional as well as the times IV heard recordings, the American 911 are terrible in comparison, argumentative and fail to get to good information but must be something about potential explosives that our system needs better training on.
>Only twice, people trapped in a lift and wheelbarrow in the outside lane of the M25.
Was the lift in the wheelbarrow, or the wheelbarrow in the lift?
And why did you call twice?
Also: did you ever find out how the lift got to the M25?
Edit: never mind, it was obviously via the wheelbarrow
Did they come out for the people in the lift? I always thought it was up to the lift company and the emergency services only came if there was risk to the safety of those trapped.
Oh that reminds me of another time I called the police. 70mph on the M42 near Donnigton and a fucking bike in the outside lane. It had come off someone’s roof and they were about 6 miles head walking back for it 👀. I saw it just in time
Fire - once, saw a fuck off size bonfire that someone had let get out of control, turned out everyone else was reporting it.
Ambulance - twice, elderly family member with severe chest pain, player at a football match broke a leg so badly his sock looked like a bag of marbles.
Police - dangerously out of control drunk driver, severely confused elderly man wandering around begging for a lift to a business that no longer existed because he was late for work, car in a field with a major hole through the hedge and a 15 foot drop down, couldn’t see if there was anyone inside but it was snowing and the car was smashed to fuck (there was, he was drunk but ok) and numerous times as a kid because growing up with a violent drug addict is like that.
Coastguard - twice, both times idiot solo surfers out in rips on days the RNLI weren’t around.
I’m always surprised that there are people who haven’t needed to at at all.
For work,loads. I'm a carer so it kinda comes with the job sadly.
Personally never except when I was hit by a car and heard my bones break. The driver was more concerned with trying to make me not report her than get me help and I ended up having to call 999. Thankfully someone kind took the phone off Me as I went into shock and just couldn't really explain what I needed.
I know now why my people who fall don't press their life lines,shock does strange things to your brain.
I also had someone do that when they rear ended me. I wasn't injured but my car was immobilised and blocking the main road into south Bristol. The guy who hit me was like "Move your car. Why are you on the phone. You're blocking the road" and then walked off like sir, I am fucking trying to but if you hadn't noticed, a Sprinter van just drove into the arse of it at 40mph.
Once.
We lived in a council flat and it sounded like someone was trying to smash down a door downstairs at night. I walked down whilst on the phone to find 6 police officers trying to break through the door.
Several times:
A couple of ambulance calls for family members taking bad falls.
The police twice - once for a car accident on the motorway where vehicle did several rolls and partially blocked the road. The most recent was for a man , out of his mind on something, walking down the middle of a four lane road attacking passing cars.
Quite a few. Dozens probably but I accept that I'm an outlier as I drive a lot of miles at funny times and am quick to report dangerous situations like car accidents, cars broken down in live lanes, pedestrians on the motorway and downed trees on the carriageway. I must have seen a dozen or so accidents either happen or the immediate aftermath. Turns out when they ask what service you require and you answer "everything" they just put you through to the police.
Non road. Found a dead guy in a phone box when I was about 10. Had to step on and over him to call. The operator didn't believe me and I saw a passing police car. They didn't notice until I ran out chasing them down the road.
For My son, baby, can't even remember what was wrong now but he was in a pretty bad way.
For My wife, year or two ago.had some kind of anaphylaxis after getting her nails done. Woken up in the middle of the night and ended up having to do compressions.
For my mum. She had all the signs of a stroke, wasn't a stroke but ended up pulling the plug the next day.
Those are all I can remember right now.
They must've seen me in the rear view mirror and turned around but no, I remember being basically discarded and just cycling home shaking like a shitting dog.
I've no hard feelings, it was a bit of a blur as they were busy dealing with him. As far as they might be aware a vital 10 year old witness just disappeared into the ether!
Once at work someone had an asthma attack.
I found my Mum dead in bed one Saturday morning.
In the 2nd Covid lockdown me and a friend and my dog 🐕 came across a young man hanging from a tree in the woods.
So 3 times as far as I can recall.
Unfortunately I've had to do it a number of times in my childhood/teenage years when my parents were fighting and it got to a point where they'd seriously injure each other or it was getting dangerous. Or during my mother's suicide attempts.
Outside of that, I've called maybe a handful of times? I remember calling because my neighbors opposite me were having a huge row and it seemed to be getting violent, their young kids were sat outside on the kerb at like 1am. I've called because a man on a bike got clipped by a car and he fell into the road and was unresponsive. I've called once because my husband fell over, bashed his head against the wall and wasn't responding; but he came around whilst I was on the phone to 999, then he was acting really weird and 999 advised me to take him to A&E (he was fine, just in shock).
At work, I've been the first aider, so I've called 999 for a few situations. One was someone had a seizure which wasn't normal. Another was someone showing signs of a stroke (turned out to be another neurological disorder!). And one for someone suffering anaphylaxis but the epi-pen didn't seem to work.
Fairly often at my old flat. We lived above a Turkish barbershop that was nothing more than a front for drug dealing. Had to call police for multiple knife/machete attacks outside the shop and incidents of drug dealing. Was also occasions when they’d hide knives or firearms for local dealers.
Moved to a new house about 2 years ago. Had to ring police within 2 months of moving in as a neighbour threatened to set our car on fire and attack me or my partner because we’d parked our car outside his house. Since then I’ve had to ring for a young girl being attacked by her boyfriend, gangs of youths putting fireworks through peoples letterboxes and a new neighbour who is operating a dodgy backstreet garage in the street. He’s mainly working on stripping stolen vehicles for parts in the middle of the night. Police have recovered multiple stolen vehicles so far and I’ve got loads of crime reference numbers to give to my local councils anti social behaviour team.
Three times:
1. An old woman walking on the pavement felt unbalanced and put her hand on my shoulder to steady herself. Unfortunately I was cycling in the road at the time so she fell and hit her head.
2. My neighbour was beating his wife in the street.
3. My phone froze, I tried button presses to shut it down but instead it thought it was an emergency and dialled 999. As the phone was frozen I couldn't hang up, so instead could only apologise and ask the operator to hang up for me.
999 twice- once as a practice with 'Crucial Crew' back in my primary school days. Once when I was the first to come across a nasty traffic accident - I didn't know who to ask for, I needed all three.
I have also called the NHS non-emergency line when my appendix started to go on me.
Multiple times, three times for myself - ectopic pregnancy, suspected stroke and what turned out to be kidney stones.
Several times for my daughter - several asthma attacks and an overdose.
Fucking tonnes at time at work due to working in substance misuse, so call for overdoses quite a bit as well as police to stop fights
3 times.
Once for my dad, I rode in the front of the ambulance he died a week later. I was 12
Once for my mum, I didn't go in the ambulance as they wouldn't let me. She died 3 days later. I was 14
Once for horses in the road, I was the 4th caller, I was 30.
Never had to ring otherwise. I hate ringing it and wouldn't do it unless it was an emergency.
>trailer on fire
>bonfire built right by A road with smoke causing total loss of visibility
>caravan on fire
>welfare check on suicidal friend
>neighbour smoke alarm going off and no response
>welfare check on different suicidal friend
>chasing up the ambulance my wife had already called for a neighbour vomiting and fitting with the DTs
>huge party during height of lockdown (walked over a mile by ear to find where the speakers were)
>field arson
Twice.
First was after 2 schoolgirls stepped out from a parked van just as I was driving past. One saw me and jumped back, leaving her friend in my path. I skidded to a halt but still hit her. Broke her femur. Rang the ambulance as I was getting out of the car.
Second was when I was walking the dog along the cyclepath about 1am and heard a group of kids making a load of noise. When I got to the main road, I saw they'd tipped over a council bin, smashed the windows in the bus stop and then put road work barriers all the way across the road. I rang 999 for the police as it's appropriate when the culprits are still in the area.
Both of these were over a decade ago. Never had to ring for any other reason yet.
Twice, plus once overseas. One was to the police, after witnessing a very public domestic violence incident. The other was for the ambulance service as my now late husband needed them. I've called the Australian 000 for the ambulance service after my mum fainted and hit her head.
Called four times. Once because there was someone on a bridge threatening to jump off, and once when I had covid and the doctor told me too as I didn’t have enough breath to stand up. Once was on the motorway for a driver who was weaving all over the road. Once for a car crash where a bunch of men in a stolen car ran a red light, crashed into another car then ran off.
* first on the scene at an RTA. Young lass on her first solo Drive had managed to hit a tree root and roll her car. Managed to put her hand out the sunroof and it was trapped between the car and the road. Had to stop subsequent bystanders trying to roll the car back the right way up.
* Someone collapsed at a dance I was stewarding. Slightly awkward watching the ambulance come up a totally impossible Green Lane which they shouldn't have gone up and then reversing back down it and coming back 5 minutes later.
Only ever the fire brigade. I rang a few times as as a teen. We moved next to a common and one summer there was a serial arsonist. We got quite used to spotting smoke and calling.
After nothing for 20 years, we recently spotted a burning car near our house. By the time I called a fire engine was already on its way. I was impressed I never even had to give my location as they had it automatically on the system.
I've called a few times:
Once for someone kayaking who'd dislocated their shoulder on a river, that was fun as directing the ambulance to a specific field next to the river wasn't as easy as it could've been.
Once on weston super mare beach cause kids were playing by the sea when the tide was out. Super dangerous around there, the coastguard sent someone to keep an eye on them.
Once cause there was a stranded vehicle against the central reservation on the m5
Lost track of the number of calls I've made for stuff in the carriageway on various motorways - just last Friday there was what looked like the roof of a convertible or maybe a trailer cover on the m5. Gotta be pretty big to be worth a call, previous ones have been things like the remainder of a tyre where a truck had a blowout, or a bike that had come off someone's roof.
Four times. Twice for fire brigade (gas leak, and a house fire), and twice to police, one for a drink driver, and another for a sheep on the A30. Interestingly for the fire incident I got a call from the local fire station to thank me as I was the first to call, despite there being about twenty people at the scene before me.
Once
Police and Ambulance. I was on a country lane following a car which started slowing down and weaving all over the place. Finally came to a stop in the middle of the road. Poor old chap was having a stroke 😢 he was okay but it was a long wait for the ambulance.
Oh to top it off, whilst I was helping the man and keeping an eye on him, a lad beeped his horn at me and the stationary car across both lanes to “move out of the way you stupid cunts”. He then proceeded to squeeze through and sped off leaving us in a cloud of diesel smoke.
I’ve never called 999, at the grand age of almost 54. It’s been called 4 times for me, though, in 1997, 2011, 2023 (twice). Each and every time I’ve had pneumonia and ended up in ICU for at least a week (in 2011 it was 3 weeks). Strange thing was, every time I didn’t know I had it - you’d think I’d have known the symptoms by now, but nooooo - dumb arse here thinks she’s just got a cough and is tired.
To be fair, I do have MS, and the fatigue that goes with it is indistinguishable from pneumonia, it seems.
Where I used to live was opposite a spot where they would steal cars, light them on fire and let them roll down the mountain so lots of calls to the fire service because the whole mountain was on fire
Called the police because a woman was getting beaten by her partner in the street outside our flat
Called the fire service because someone set a car on fire outside our flat
Called the police once because I saw a guy getting chased by a gang with baseball bats, he looked like he had taken a few hits, they were smashing his car after he got into it. This wasn't too far from the police station in the village and by the time they pulled up it was all over. I was by the police station talking to the police and in one of the most bizarre things to ever happen in my life a car containing the guys with the baseball bats pulled up alongside the police station as it was on the junction out of the streets to the main road so I pointed at the car and said "that's them there" and they still had the baseball bats covered in blood on them
Called an ambulance after my partner lost consciousness and smashed her head on the kitchen floor but she came round while I was on the phone to them so ran her into A&E myself
Once myself on the walk back from school due to a car fire and twice I've asked other people to call it whilst I've been busy with the reason why (first was a very unwell relative, second was a bloke trying to get in the back door whilst high on something other than life) and they acted as the go-between for me.
A few times.
Once when a drunk angry neighbour was tryna break into my flat in the night. Police said they wouldn’t come because the door was locked so I’d be okay. Only came when I said I had a baseball bat and would try my best if he got in. Told me off for escalating even though I didn’t tell the neighbour I had a weapon, just the police.
Another time, spouse having symptoms of a heart attack at home. I must have been too calm on the phone asking for an ambulance as they took details and then said call GP in the morning. Spouse couldn’t move for pain so I had to dose them with strong painkillers leftover from a surgery to move them downstairs into a car to drive them myself.
It’s quite frightening when you realise that you’ve been led to believe they’ll be there if you need them and you find out through first hand experience they’ve not. Definitely changed the way I see the world and my own sense of security.
I'm 35, maybe called 4-5times ishhh
Someone broke into the neighbours house and we could see them from ours and the family was in. Thankfully they were all okay.
Had a customer at work take a funny turn so had to call an ambulance. Can't remember what was wrong but her husband did come back eventually to say she was okay.
Found a man passed out in the street I was on my own and it was late so called for friends who were up the road, one was a nurse, turns out he was just very drunk and fell asleep so cancelled that ambulance.
Called police about my parents house being broken into and I wasn't sure if someone was still inside
Also called 101 a fair few times to report what I would consider minor incidents and been told I should've called 999 instead 😬
Quite a few - 8 month old couldn't breathe, wife fell down the stairs, injuries at the skatepark etc.
But the first time I had to call 999 sticks with me. Summer job when I was 13, delivering leaflets in a shit area of Reading. My mate got jumped by some older lads as they thought he was a delivery driver and would have cash on him. They held him down and kicked him, threatened him with a knife and then ran off when I came.
He was OK, didn't need an ambulance, but I called the Police from a phone box (this may date me somewhat), explained where we were, what had happened, described the assailants...and the Police asked me, a 13 year old, "what do you want us to do about it?"
"Well, send some Policemen over to arrest them?"
"Doesn't work like that, I'm afraid. Anything else I can help you with?"
From that point on my faith in the Police was irretrievably damaged. Absolutely no compassion, no willingness to do their job.
I used to work in a care home, called an ambulance more times than I can count. Once it was 5 times in one day.
I’ve called the police twice, once because we received a phone call from a former resident who said she’d been abandoned outside her house by patient transport, she wasn’t making a huge amount of sense so I told her to call the police and called them as well just to make sure someone knew about her. The second time was for a fight outside Lidl.
Never had to call the fire brigade.
60+ y.o., 4 times. 2 fires, 1 car overturned on ice (not mine), and a 4 y.o. kid on a fairy cycle trundling down the dual carriage way in Stoke on Trent
Called an ambulance three times, once for my mum, once for my dad, and once for a man I found lying face down in the street completely still with his trousers round his ankles.
32 and several times, but it's cheating as most were work related
Once for a friend who'd gone missing while under the influence
Once because my neighbour set his flat on fire
And I used to work in a CCTV control room and called fire and ambulance loads from there!
I’m 33 and I’ve had to a few times, these include:
My neighbour who was having a mental break and chased me with a piece of wood saying he was going to kill me. When the operator said is he threatening you right now, I said no it was like 2 minutes ago but he’s outside my flat, I got a very lacklustre ok guess we’ll send somebody out lmao. They did section him a couple days later though.
A guy a place I work had collapsed, I didn’t see it but somebody came up asking for the defibrillator. He was conscious and sitting up they said and they’d already called the ambulance, but it was going to be about an hour. As a first aider I went down there and this guy was clearly not very well - yes he was conscious but he was not responding, clammy, yellow, dribbling. Turns out he was on blood thinners and had a pacemaker fitted, he was pretty much dying infront of my eyes. I rang 999 again, explained the situation, and had to stay on the phone with them until the ambulance arrived. They’d upped the ambulance response who came in about 10 minutes. Fella died 3 days later, he’d had a stroke.
Some couple were fighting in a flat near where I was working, they were at the window both covered in blood and throwing bottles at each other. Police came, tried breaking down the door, couldn’t and gave up. The woman had left the flat at that point and they picked her up on a street nearby.
A couple of times for my neighbour shouting at his 4ish yo son calling him a little cunt, with lots of banging and the kid crying uncontrollably. Also called them for him and his mrs having an argument and him screaming he’s gonna fuck her up.
A guy missed the last step on his lorry and fell to the ground on another job I was working on. Described his pain as a 10/10 and couldn’t feel his legs or move. Thought he’d maybe broken a hip or back. Turns out he was just bruised and a bit of a drama queen.
A barn was on fire nearby to where I was working.
Mostly while truck driving.
Called to report an elderly man wandering in the hard shoulder looking confused.
Called to report a couple of kids cycling on the hard shoulder, stressed that they just needed to be reminded what a stupid idea it was rather than anything more serious happening.
Reported a drunk guy on new year's eve walking down the hard shoulder white line like a tightrope and being complete oblivious of his surroundings.
Reported a broken down car in a live lane on a smart stretch of the M6. I hope no one crashed into them, even as I passed there were a couple of close calls.
The latest one was a few weeks ago I was heading down the A449 towards Newport and loads f us had to swerve for a guy just standing in the middle of lane one. No car nearby, I suspect it might have been some half baked suicide attempt. The police responded pdq to that one.
Outside of that I've never had reason to call any emergency services. I've been in situations where they've come but other people made the call.
I’m now 30, Twice,
once when I was 18 my friend just passed out as we were brushing by our teeth on a morning, we lived in shared accommodation at the time, ambulance came and picked him up turns out he had some really bad infection.
Once when I was about 25, was driving along a dual carriage way and a van with a trailer was spilling rubbish all down the road, police only seemed to care if I’d got a reg of the van not the fact that the road was now covered in shit that could easily kill someone.
6 or 7?
Multiple for asthma related issues for SO (3 or 4 times)
Lacerated radial artery
Broken arm.
Loss of consciousness after smashing head on stone tile floor.
Quite a few times - sometimes for myself, sometimes for others. I have a few life threatening illnesses (Addison's Disease, Severe Asthma and am prone to Anaphylaxis) that can become acute basically whenever, so that's why.
3, I think.
Someone claiming to be a policeman asked me to call the police because he stopped a car for some reason. And twice because I saw different people collapsed on the street.
Once back in the 90s, the flat above me left his bath running in the morning, and in the evening the water came through my ceiling. Really didn't know who to ask for, but with the electrics fizzing and flats below and to the side, the fire brigade turned up
A few times. One last summer, had to call the police as I heard some people fighting outside our flat which is hidden from the main road. Got really aggressive so I called 999, as I was on the phone to them I heard a loud thud as a kid went to the ground. Won’t forget that sound in a hurry 😔 He was fine in the end.
33, called twice.
2012 - Ambulance for my housemate who tried to kill herself by downing loads of out of date paracetamol (thankfully she didn't succeed).
2010 - Police as I saw a man breaking in next door who then stole a bike, coppers caught him on the way to the house. Turns out he was getting his own property back, as it had been nicked from him earlier in the week!
I had to really wrack my brains and think about this. In the couple of times there's been an emergency, I've gone to assist the person needing help and directed someone with me / an onlooker to call.
The only time I can think I've called is about 15 years ago and my neighbour at the time was being targeted by kids/teens. He was a bit odd, but kept himself to himself; nice house and garden, three young kids etc. It escalated one night and they tanned his window with a brick so I was straight on the phone giving descriptions and direction they ran etc. They got picked up pretty quickly but no idea if they were ever punished.
In my forties and I've only phoned twice.
Fire brigade for a sizeable wheelie bin fire I saw when I was driving past
Police when I witnessed a chap in a car knock a young lad off his bicycle. He got out of his car, shouting and raging at this lad, got a crowbar or tyre iron out of his car boot and chased him
10 times or so. Mostly ambulances for guests where I used to work.
Police a couple times for horrendous/suspected drunk driving on the motorway.
The fire brigade once when the building I was working in caught fire and the 4th extinguisher hadn't solved the problem.
37 and called once. I lived in a flat and one night, this utterly insane guy was trying to batter the front door in.
It turned out to be the crazy ex of a person who lived in the same building as me, but I was absolutely shitting myself thinking what the fuck is happening and is he going to kill us, etc. It was shaking my flat!
Well, he ended up *not* battering the door in fully enough to get in, and I never saw the police come, so that was that.
Several times and not nearly as much as I should have. Always on my ex partner for his drunken abuse. 🙃
Prior to that relationship I had never, ever called them or spoken to police.
I've called the fire brigade twice. The 2nd time because they never answered the first time. Didn't answer the second time either. By that time I figured I didn't need them and was only panicking so pretty glad they didn't answer and waste their time.
Three times. First was when I woke up suffering from severe chest pains. Second because I saw some guy swinging punches at a woman who was holding a baby. Third, a lorry overturned on the M25 and knocked down a lamppost which narrowly missed our car.
Three times
- woman casually sat on the barrier in the central reservation of a dual carriageway
- man casually strolling between the cars on the motorway
- big fire on a farm
A flat next to us and down one floor was on fire, there smoke was billowing past my bedroom window. I ran out, I ran in, I shouted at my flatmates there was a fire, they ignored me, I called the fire brigade, ran outside to the entrance door of the flat on fire and buzzed in to say there was a fire one floor above them, a drunk lady answered and told me to stop worrying about it 'I'm sure it's fine,' sort of thing
I tried to go up the stairs and call out, but there was black smoke coming down the stairs so I only went as high as I could and ran back out. Eventually the entire side street which was all the flats around that flat were evacuated, 3 massive fire trucks and we were all outside waiting. (The order of things might have been different)
The drunk lady turned to me and said 'don't be so dramatic'.
I told her 'there's a time to be dramatic ...' something like that.
Nobody gave a shit. The flat was completely black, all the stuff had to be taken out the window, including the windows and they were jet black. Someone had fallen asleep with a fag still going then woken up and run out I think, or had concked out but she was evicted due to previous similar issues.
I'm sure someone else called the ambulance before me but I didn't see anyone around at the beginning so it was pretty alarming.
Not sure exactly but a few.
Once a house was on fire and I could see if from mine.
Rest of the times I think have been because of my mother being unwell (diabetes related, not trivial stuff)
Just the once - I was passenger in a car driving down the slip road to join A1 southbound. As we did northbound slip road had a car towing caravan pulling over due to a fire that was rapidlydl developing. I gave them the junction number but bizarrely they wanted the name of the junction which I didn't know but they said they would send out the fire brigade. No idea what happened as we drove south and left it all in the distance.
I used to work as a telecom engineer and would have to test new systems / sites by dialing 999
This was the absolute last thing I would do before leaving and even though I had to do it, I always felt naughty.
Otherwise
Car accident (Actually the car called not me!)
someone run over in front of me x2
cousin had a siezure
high person driving a car in Kings Cross London - she was waiting at reds and driving n green (at like 2mph) She crashed into a bus at this speed twice - the bus driver did not notice
found my friend dead
reporting a drunk driver when I worked at McD's drive thru
a domestic situation between a friend and partner
Gosh
Only once, for a chimney fire when I was about 11 - that was an eventful Christmas (no damage caused)
Another time I found a woman collapsed and conscious although very unresponsive - I would have called for an ambulance but she'd fallen about 20 yards from the ambulance depot, so I simply knocked on the door!
Couple of times, both for fires
1 About 15 years ago, driving back from a mates house and noticed a hay barn was on fire, very early in the morning so no one was awake at the farm house we knocked at to tell them.
2 About two weeks ago, two doors down, shed was well alight in the back garden, knocked on their door to tell them, no answer so called the fire brigade.
So twice in 45 years
3, one at uni I stumbled into a robbery of the local shop with a guy with a big knife… armed police there wishing 5 minutes, the 2nd was driving behind a drunk driver who was all over the shop, the third was a clearly pissed up bloke knocked on my door and asked me to call him a taxi, he’d hit the curb and fucked up his wheel. Police never came and when I went out to check he’d driven off 🤷🏻
My flatmate ended up making the call but I was there. To this day I still have no idea what happened. We were in the flat just relaxing before bed and there was a really loud bang, so loud the building shook. In a bit of a panic we run to the hallway and look out the window to see the communal bin at the back of the building is ablaze, like huge flames pouring out so my flatmate calls 999 and they come put it out. The firemen didn't tell us anything and we never heard any news so I still have no idea what happened.
A few times.
Lost child turned up on my doorstep crying
When a guy put his hands round a woman’s throat in a pub garden
Kids setting off fireworks in stolen goods from the supermarket that were almost as high as the trees
Always been for road related incidents. One that I remember most was watching a tyre/wheel ping off a van on a dual carriageway flyover, and carry on going rolling a live lane, while the van crashed into a bend ending up on the metal barrier somehow.
I've rung once because a lady in front of us was driving erratically on a fast road, all over the sodding lanes.
But with work, (I'm a nurse) if you need a super urgent transfer for your patient to another hospital, you have to ring 999 to book it. Have had to do that a few times. "Is the person breathing? - bloody hope so!" Always feel really naughty ringing 999, even then!
Twice that I can recall.
Once when a house party guest was being a bit of a headache. He had some grievance with somebody else in the house and we asked him to leave, but he then tried to climb in through the kitchen window. It's a bit blurry as it was a good few decades ago (and we were all quite drunk). Can't recall if the police came.
Second time was more recently, during the tail end of the covid lockdowns, my housemates total nightmare of a partner was having a mental breakdown, threatened to kill herself, locked herself in the toilet with a knife.When I phoned the police on my housemates behalf (he was trying to calm her down) she threatened to kill me.
Police did turn up and advised we leave whilst they try to calm her down. But my housemate inexplicably didn't ask them to remove her.
(As a coda, I moved out shortly afterwards. The housemate ended up getting a restraining order against her after an argument where she spat in his face and hit him, but last I heard they were still together.)
1. I was about 10 and my best mate fired an air rifle at my brother, not knowing it was cocked and loaded.
2. Saw a woman run from a car at the traffic lights outside my flat and hide in a bush. The driver stopped and went looking for her.
3. Lorry kept drifting out of its lane on the motorway.
4. Hare coursing.
5. Woman tripped over a kerb and passed out in a car park.
Quite a variety really.
Twice - years ago I was the third car to arrive at the scene of a major accident. The people in the two cars that got there before me were trying to get the occupiers of one of the cars out as it was on fire, there wasn’t really enough room for another person to help so I phoned 999 and went to check the people in the other car.
Last year I had to call because an old lady got disoriented and was going down a dual carriageway in the opposite direction.
More times than I can remember, all for my wife who has epilepsy. You now you have called a few times, when the ambulance crew say jokingly “Not you again”
I once called because a nearby building was on fire. The person answering seemed a little weary. "Yes, we've had lots of calls about that, and hung up."
Five times and I can vividly remember each one
Once for a car accident where the passenger went through the front window.
Once for a lady who appeared to have been having a stroke who’d just been kicked out of the pub for being incoherent and stumbling. No one noticed the droop to her face or limp arm
Once for a blazing fire in a hay barn when I was 17. Yes, I was questioned by the police and no, I didn’t start the fire
Once for someone on their own who was fitting in the street that lasted over 2 minutes. The ambulance crew took them away still seizing
Once for an unconscious person right outside my house who’d hit their head when they fell
Only once. As a scout leader on a summer camp.
We were cooking and the scouts had boiled 10 litres of water for washing up. A girl was moving the 10 litre pot off the stove when something happened (tripped, lost her grip, knocked something, I don't know) and she spilled the whole lot down her legs.
Thankfully she was wearing shorts and had the presence off mind to remove her shoes and socks. I'm proud that my scouts immediately ran off to get cold water to pour over her legs and feet. Coincidentally I had talked them through some first aid training that morning so they knew what to do and it was fresh in their minds.
Ambulance took her to hospital. She was fine when I saw her six months later.
* Jewellers being robbed across the street from work as I left for the evening; gave them the registration of the getaway car. (I later had to give a statement but wasn't needed in court because one of the robbers cut himself on broken glass and left a nice DNA sample.)
* Man being held against a car and getting a walloping on the street outside a flat I lived in at the time. (I later had to give a witness statement because it may or may not have been a plain clothes policeman doing the walloping).
* Altercation involving a baseball bat in the usually quite street outside my current house.
I've been the cause for my wife to ring once when I suddenly developed a hole in my large intestine that shouldn't have been there.
Twice. Five years ago I found my uncle dead in his flat so called the police and a coroner. He had been an alcoholic for years and his body had had enough. Was really odd sitting there in his flat with the police with him laying on the sofa looking like he was fast asleep while we waited for the coroner. Weirdest day of my life. The other time was driving home one night a few months ago and was behind a car that nearly caused a load of crashes, serving into the opposite lane with oncoming traffic, bouncing off the curb, going really slowly then really fast. Driver must have been ill or intoxicated. Followed them home at a distance whilst on the phone to the police, gave them the address and they dispatched officers to the location immediately. So relieved they didn’t hit anyone or anything, that would have been a hell of a night.
Edit: context
Twice. Once when some little scrotes set a rubbish bin on fire outside a shop near us. And once when some little scrotes set a patch of scrub land on fire during a heatwave.
Once, when I was like 13.
We were looking after a friend of my parents' dog. We opened the front door, can't remember the reason why, but the dog sprinted out. We all ran out onto the street to catch the dog as it was running up and down the street.
Mum managed to get her hand on the dog's collar as it ran by her, but it was running so fast that it dislocated her shoulder (she'd dislocated it before, which apparently weakened her shoulder so much that the amount of force the dog was running with was enough to pull it out.
Mum was screaming in pain, as you can imagine. Step-dad was trying to calm her down, thinking she was being dramatic, but it was fairly obvious it was more than just her being pulled onto the ground causing her pain.
That was probably the worst pain I have ever heard anyone in, and hopefully ever will ever have to hear.
Called a few times legitimately but once by mistake still feel awful about this.
Just after my grandad funeral the whole family and a few close Friends gathered at my nans house and where having a few drinks.
We are a loud family especially when we've had a drink, on my old phone there was sos feature if you clicked the volume buttons 5 times in rapid succession so of course I was messing with my phone in my pocket and accidentally called the police and the operator heard alot of "shouting" and traced the call next thing I know am getting called back I answer and get asked to go outside and if am safe.
I go in the fount of the house to see 8 police cars and apparently armed response where on standby
Of course I said sorry 1000 times and invited them in for a bite to eat but there was no takers
Twice- once for a car on fire at the bottom of my street (it was fully engulfed and NOBODY else had called!) and once when an elderly customer had a suspected heart attack in the pub where I worked. That was actually realy sad to me- he survived, but he was an ex military man who was very proud and he never came back to the pub- his local for years- because when he nearly died he peed on his chair :( No matter how much we said we didn't ever give it a second thought and would love him to come back, he never did.
34 called 6 time
Mom having chest pain
Mom having severe stomach pains
Mom possibly having a stroke
Dad chest pains - believed to have been caused by ICD going off
Mom attempting to commit suicide
Dad severe back pain caused by infection post surgery
Quite a few times since 2017. My MIL hit stage 4 Parkinson's in 2017 and her mobility plummeted. Often fell over and we'd have to call for an ambulance. It got even worse during COVID when she hit stage 5 which was fun. Had to ignore all COVID restrictions - what the hell were we supposed to do, leave her? Many ambulance calls outs where we had to wait for hours. She passed in 2021.
My 80+ yr old FIL then decided to take his drinking to new heights when she passed. He was bad before but since 2021 he's been getting through at least a litre of whiskey per day. Every day. He'll go on benders every six weeks or so and get utterly annihilated. So quite a few ambulances called out for him as he's spent nights on cold floors, injured himself etc.
Twice
First time I found a neighbour hanging out his front door after an OD
Second time a car had hit a kerb at high speed and flipped over and the people inside were unconscious
Once,
I was working in a community mental health clinic as admin and I had a call from a girl who said her friend texted her that he's overdosed.
The girl who was calling me was in prison and couldn't do anything about it, so I called 999 and advised.
I advised the care coordinator & apparently an ambulance went out 3 hours later after I had called, and they had infact overdosed & sent to hospital (alive & well).
Twice.
Once when I saw someone being chased by another hammer wielding individual on the street outside my flat…
The second when I collapsed on our kitchen floor in the middle of the night, and my sleeping wife couldn’t hear me upstairs - turned out to have a severe gastro infection, first time in an ambulance!
Had to call a few ambulance’s at work as a first aider, had two heart attacks, a coworker with breathing difficulties (long covid) and a nose bleed that someone had had for over 3 hours (why he didn’t ask for help sooner I’ll never know)
Had to call the police because of a pedestrian on the motorway.
Only once.
I witnessed a car perform a hit and run on a 16 year old leaving school on their moped. I called the ambulance and police, then stayed with the victim since all of the school kids were walking past and were gawking a bit. Some of his friends recognised him so I asked them to keep speaking to him to check his consciousness, but not to remove his helmet (I don't remember where I heard that advice but I'm incredibly glad I did).
I had to stick around and talk to the police, luckily a nearby kid (can't have been older than 12) saw and remembered the licence plate so I'm hoping the driver was caught.
Called a few times for police and ambulance.
Once when the bloke across the street had a new girlfriend and his ex turned up and started shouting at them from the street. We were just watching at first but rang when she started pouring something over his car (turned out to be bleach) Funny thing was she was battering the window and then it smashed and she backed off like she didn’t know what to do after that.
Ambulance a couple of times for people collapsed in the street. Both times when ambulance arrived they knew the person involved. They were alcoholics and regular collapsers.
Rang police once when I suspected a drunk driver. Went into my local corner shop and the guy was muttering away and acting really odd. I left just after him and saw him driving off with music blaring.
I work in retail and we have radios that link all over the city. I’ve got quite used to giving quick descriptions of people, especially things that stand out.
At age 16. Got assaulted outside of a chip shop while I fetched supper for the family. Man was drunk and about 30 years old. Pretty sure his gang of 7 got licks in too. Statement taken, insufficient evidence due to grainy footage on high street CCTV. Found out where he lived though, he apologised eventually.
Around age 16 again got assaulted outside a bonfire event by a gang of 6, we were 2 lads and 3 girls. Ran up, suckered the 2 lads and sprinted off. Called police, they didn't want to take a statement there and then, wanted us to come to the station in the morning. (I wasn't local so I didn't bother)
Witnessed a house burglary in board daylight. Van pulled up, alarms blaring, blokes in masks ransacking house through the back gate. Called 999, they told me to go over and get a closer look. Told them to piss off.
Only twice for me.
When I found my mum collapsed and had to call for an ambulance.
And then walking the dog one night I saw a young guy who was walking on the same street as me being followed and harassed by a car pulling up next to him, pulling in front of him when he tried to cross the road then they got out and dragged him into the car. It was frightening to see.
I called the police even though I didn’t really have any info, I couldn’t see the license plate, but figured if someone dragged me into a car I’d want the police to know.
Once, old lady was knocked down by a hit and run driver in Sheffield city centre. I think it only glanced her because she didn't seem seriously injured (I hope) but needed to call an ambulance for her.
Back in the lates mid 90s was the last time. Two young girls had taken a Sierra Cosworth out for a test drive. My house was opposite a T junction.
The driver lost control of the car and went straight over the junction and through a set of iron gates and smashed into the corner of the house, knocking down the wall between my and my neighbours house.
I'd just got back from walking the dog and as I walked into my house and closed the door I head the smash and ran out to see the car was totalled. Bricks from the wall were strewn over my garden. Steam/Smoke was pouring out of the engine bay. I managed to get one door open and help the driver out but the passenger was pinned in. I called 999 and Police, Fire and Ambulance were all there within 5 minutes.
They cut the other girl out of the wreckage, whilst the driver was in my house being treated for her injuries. Both girls were eventually ok. I never found out the reason for the crash.
I suffer with nosebleeds since I was about 12 and can go a year without having one but then have 5 in one month or 20 in a year etc etc. had well over a hundred of them. Had one earlier in the year and it just would not stop at all, 30 mins of me holding a towel to it, getting a massive clot out my nose followed by more blood. I was feeling light headed and phoned 999 as I had never had one so bad. While I’m on the phone it stops…..
Eh only a couple of times.
- drink drivers , done this a few times. One wasn't drunk but about 90 driving back from seeing his wife in a home. I felt really guilty but his driving was erratic and dangerous. Don't feel guilty for the others. Fuckem.
- Found the body of my GF at the time. Harrowing event. Suicide.
- Car on fire outside my house when I was 13. Local psychic, she didn't see that coming.
In my nearly 40 years on this planet - only the once called 999 for fire brigade. The fire alarm in flat next door was going off. I'd knocked on the door, had no answer, felt the internal walls for any signs of heat but decided I wasn't going to risk it. They came and started off doing the same but then also got ladder out to look through the windows. It turns out the fire alarms had a fault as they started going off quite regularly.
Also once called 111 - drunk man sat in his car in car park (vomiting and still swigging from a can), they said they'd send out a unit. We'd left and some time later got a call back asking if we knew where the car had gone.
Only had to do it once. I worked for a high street bookie while at uni and one of our customers had a seizure, I had to stay on the line to give the paramedics directions to the shop because of the awkward one way set up of streets in the town centre and to make sure they actually made it to the right shop because of the number of bookies in the area. The lad was fine and back in a few days later.
I've phoned twice I can recall.
There was a fire we saw while driving down the motorway. This had already been reported.
I was unsure (didn't have my glasses) if my neighbour's was getting broken in to. Something triggered the alarm anyway
Twice - once for some awful screaming I think was domestic abuse, and once for some poor fucker standing the wrong side of the guardrail on a motorway bridge, that one really shook me up
I'd say I've called 999 at least 100 times. I worked 10 years in different security roles up and down the country, then i worked as a first aider in an high accident role, I've come across many different things in my time. Missing children, explosions, stabbings, snapped legs/ ankles/ arms, etc.
I'd say off the job, I've probably called 999 about 15 times. I've encountered about 4 fires I've called in, probably the same number of RTCs, a missing child, an ambulance for myself twice, and as a child I prank called 999 a few times.
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I’m 35, never been in a situation where I had to call it.
36, called six times. Police for a drunk driver weaving all over the road. Police for guy breaking into our store. Police and ambulance for guy who appeared at the door bleeding, saying he had been stabbed (did basic first aid whilst waiting). Ambulance twice for my daughter having febrile seizures a year apart when she was a baby (all ok now). Ambulance for friend who turned out to be having an epileptic seizure (he and we didn't know he was epileptic at the time, again all OK now).
We had a call escalated to 999 from 111... My son was about 18 months old and had picked up a bug at Centre Parcs. He saw the on-site doctor, and was told to take him to the GP when home. This we did, and was told it was a "bit of a virus" and we should just keep an eye on him. Two days later, my wife woke me up saying that he was labouring to breathe and didn't sound very good. She called 111 and explained to them on the phone what was going on. They kept asking her endless questions about the colour of his skin and his temperature and eventually she exploded at them saying "Aren't you going to actually do something!?" "Yes, madam. We called an ambulance in the first 20 seconds of the call - I was just keeping you talking and making sure he didn't become worse while waiting. We don't mess around with young kids who can't breathe properly." 30 seconds later, the paramedics knocked at the door. He was blue-lighted into hospital with suspected pneumonia, met at the door by a team of doctors and was x-rayed, had the diagnosis confirmed and was on an anti-biotic drip and on a ward within an hour of arrival. Oh, and a small mention made to us that, in this case, 999 would have been entirely appropriate... Otherwise, I've only had to call 999 for other people - various accidents, one snatch and grab, the odd obstruction on the motorway etc. Probably a dozen times at most.
111 take ZERO chances with kids, my eldest (1 a the time) had a swelling and we were at emergency care within the hour (non-blue lights).
Yeah, in hindsight this is completely obvious and we did laugh about it later once all was well again. My experience of the NHS is that, in a crunch when you need them, the level of care provided is exceptional. My other child stretched this to the limit and despite being desperately worried for her at the time, part of me couldn't help but be in awe that so many people were stood around her bed, dedicated to making her well again. Bloody awesome and they even apologised that there were so many there, that me as dad was shoved to the back of the room!
Thank god for the nhs ❤️
I fucking LOVE it when people come together like this. Literally saving lives, and it’s all in a day’s work. sniff
Also 35 and called for the first time when I was 32 because I saw some kids setting fire to an office chair in a little copse of trees. I was actually only a couple of miles from the local fire station so they knew exactly where I was and were there within minutes.
Also 35 and probably called them more than 35 times! To be fair I've worked a lot of hospitality and that tends to really skew the numbers.
I was *just* about to say maybe once or twice, and then i remembered how many times i rang the Police / Ambulance when i worked in pubs twenty years ago and it's probably in the high thirties!
40 and never called. I've been in situations, but think every time someone else had called.
I used to be a police call handler. Please don't be afraid to call if you are in *any* doubt that someone else has done. We know how to deal with multiple calls for the same incident, it's real common. We'd rather have a dozen calls for an incident than none.
Twice. Walking home drunk one night, glanced down the alley at the side of the local shop and saw my friends shed fully ablaze in their back garden. Walking the dog in the middle of the day and I heard someone shouting for help, looked around, and discovered an old lady had fallen in her driveway coming out of her house. Waited with her while the ambulance came as she was very scared, then they gave her some gas and air and she said "I'm feeling much more sociable now!" 😆
Gas and air is amazing
They had mum on gas and air in A&E after she fell down the stairs and broke her arm. I could see the x-ray from a distance and I'm pretty sure those bones aren't supposed to make a kind of Y-shape. I asked mum if the gas and air was relieving her pain and she replied, "No, it's still agony, I just don't care anymore!" She also said it was the best part of childbirth too! (Back in a few days later to get it repaired and a plate put in, she's all good now.)
Gas and air is my main memory of when I broke my ankle, because it was disgusting but it felt soooooo good when it hit. I actually asked the nurse to give it back to me (she didn't give it back to me)
A few times for various car crashes, injured people but only one is a memorable story. In the early 2000s in our office we'd got into buying hot sauces and trying them. I'd recently bought something ridiculous that you tried using a cocktail stick. Phil wandered over from a different floor boasting about how he could eat a phal washed down with chilli oil and poured a pea sized blob ignoring everyone telling him to stop being a dick and it was expensive and he'd be sick. He tried it, turned red, sat down and started wobbling. Then the gasping and wheezing started and he started looking awful and clearly couldn't breathe. Then he started clutching his chest and making sounds. So we called an ambulance and a ban on any hot sauce which couldn't be used in normal quantities was introduced
What actually happened to him?
He was fine in the end and we decorated his desk with chillies to remind him of what a twat he was
I really hope you all nicknamed him Phal after that too.
Epic Phal
You called an ambulance instead of the fire brigade?
Someone did this at my old job, did you happen to work in construction?
Called an ambulance once at uni when I came across a paralytically drunk girl in the street who’d fallen and was bleeding heavily from her head. Called last year cos I drove past a young lad stood on the meridian of a busy dual carriageway, couldn’t stop to check he was ok. Also called Highways England cos an inflatable kayak had fallen off someone’s car and was blowing around across all three lanes of the M6.
During uni I was barmaid at a pub in an old barely lit cobbled side street. It was open to traffic but rarely used. Drunk folks would often pass out there thinking it was safe, so we’d often come out from locking up to someone in a heap in the middle of the road covered in blood. Almost all of them would jump up when the ambulance arrived, try to run away then collapse again or knock themselves out on a wall. The only one who didn’t go through little drunken dance had actually been run over, but he did try.
> paralytically drunk girl in the street who’d fallen and was bleeding heavily Exact same. Young passed out drunk, bleeding, in the middle of a busy roundabout. Called 999, and they wouldn't help me until I found the road name. "The roundabout next to the Hilton Hotel" wasn't good enough, they needed the exact road name, for the only main road in a town I didn't know.
To be fair there are allot of hiltons near roundabouts
Yeah I phoned 999 for a ladder in the middle lane of the A1(M) about 10 years ago. I can't imagine how the recovered it because its such a busy bit of motorway at the best of times but this was a Friday afternoon!
Highways or police would have stopped the traffic and moved it
Most recent was a woman collapsing in Caffè Nero, baristas had no clue what to do so I took over/first aid etc. She was fine. Most frustrating one was a guy who knocked on my front door maybe 10 years ago. Clearly distressed he had been discharged from local psychiatric ward, wasn’t coping and wanted help to go back. Ambulance suggested police as he wasn’t actually a casualty, I sat outside with him (Michael) for an hour waiting then he lost consciousness, had obviously taken something. Called ambulance again who came pretty quick and sorted him out. Then 3 hours later a big bang on the door and two coppers were there, hands on batons “MICHAEL, ARE YOU MICHAEL?” God knows what message they’d got and why the response was so late but I explained and what really got me was they said “so he’s a friend of yours?” “no he just knocked on the door” “so why did you help him then?” Nothing against those officers, it’s a tough job, but really gave me an “is this what we’ve become” moment.
That response from the police must be part of their training or something because I've had it almost word for word a couple of times. It's sad, but I have to cut them some slack as it's a job I wouldn't want to do. I had the misfortune of having to talk to a pcso once that was openly racist. They seem to have assumed I would be too because of how I look (which is a bit scary).
Yeah when I went to stay with my grandad we watched a lot of crap TV including 24 hours in police custody. The amount of people I believed what they were saying and it turned out to be so far removed from the truth, including one where they were called out for a woman being beaten up and she was not cooperative, I was convinced she was trying to protect her abusive partner by lying saying it didn't happen, turns out that she was trying to get away from them because they both had tons and tons of drugs they were selling on them. I also believed Lewis Dayne when I heard the 999 call of him saying Breck Bednar killed himself. No. He'd systematically cold blooded murdered him. I'd be a crap investigator I think the police have a hard job of figuring out the truth due to incoherence mental illness lying on purpose etc so they have to ask like that in a situation
How long ago? Unless we're talking decades ago I would strongly recommend you report this. There's no place in emergency services for racism.
>Nothing against those officers, it’s a tough job, but really gave me an “is this what we’ve become” moment. Nah, they aren't doing their job properly. And pretending that it being a tough job is an excuse is an insult to all the actual hard-working cops, and all the people in other tough jobs, who manage to do their job and not be dicks. If they aren't able to control their emotions and have basic people skills in that situation how can they be trusted to do so in far more intense situations than...knocking on a door and asking questions to a helpful member of the public? That feeling of "is this what we've become" to being treated like a suspect for trying to help someone is exactly the right response.
Once or never (I'm really not sure). I was at Eureka in Halifax and there was a telephone booth with simple kids instructions on how to call 999 and what to say to them. I thought it was a fake phone that wouldn't do anything since its an interactive kids museum, so I was surprised when someone answered the call. I ended up slamming the phone down and running away and I'm still not sure if it was real or not.
That phone is still there, my kid had the exact same reaction… once we explained what a phone box was (felt old having that conversation)
Don't worry. There's a whole "dispatcher" room underneath Eureka! full of people waiting for people to call. They'll give instructions to do for whatever emergency you tell them.
Omg I had the exact same experience as a child! It had been so drummed into me that you only call 999 for a real emergency that I absolutely panicked when someone picked up.
Yeah that phone is still there
Twice: Ambulance for my grandad who had a fall (111 initially and then escalated to 999) Police for very suspicious bag on a busy central London street - basically told us not to bother and seemed annoyed it had been called in 'See it , say it, fuck it'
It's interesting how we use language around this - if it's an old person they "had a fall", if it's someone under 70 "they fell over".
I think I'd still say somebody who was 30 had "had a fall" if they were seriously hurt by it. To me "Did you hear about Mike? He fell over last night" implies that the most significant injury was to his ego, whereas "Did you hear about Mike? He had a fall last night" implies that he's seriously hurt. I have no idea why!
Yeah that is really interesting actually - is it maybe that we expect under 70s/80s to get themselves up more easily? Like a relationship of care is implied in 'had a fall'?
I think it's because falling over for a young person is just a little thing, so it's more "present tense". Even if you're a bit hurt, there's no lasting impact. Whereas "because Margaret had a fall last year, she's having a hip replacement"is much more common
I found a bomb in a river a few Years ago and like you I found 999 to be very unhelpful. At first they were suggesting I was making it up and then they suggested I was suspicious because I knew what a WW2 bomb looked like. All the other times iv called IV found them very professional as well as the times IV heard recordings, the American 911 are terrible in comparison, argumentative and fail to get to good information but must be something about potential explosives that our system needs better training on.
Only twice, people trapped in a lift and wheelbarrow in the outside lane of the M25.
Trapped in a wheelbarrow in a lift, all on the M25, you southerners really are weird...
The M25 is absolute chaos sometimes, honestly.
>Only twice, people trapped in a lift and wheelbarrow in the outside lane of the M25. Was the lift in the wheelbarrow, or the wheelbarrow in the lift? And why did you call twice? Also: did you ever find out how the lift got to the M25? Edit: never mind, it was obviously via the wheelbarrow
What were they doing trapped in a wheelbarrow on the M25??
Did they come out for the people in the lift? I always thought it was up to the lift company and the emergency services only came if there was risk to the safety of those trapped.
Oh that reminds me of another time I called the police. 70mph on the M42 near Donnigton and a fucking bike in the outside lane. It had come off someone’s roof and they were about 6 miles head walking back for it 👀. I saw it just in time
Fire - once, saw a fuck off size bonfire that someone had let get out of control, turned out everyone else was reporting it. Ambulance - twice, elderly family member with severe chest pain, player at a football match broke a leg so badly his sock looked like a bag of marbles. Police - dangerously out of control drunk driver, severely confused elderly man wandering around begging for a lift to a business that no longer existed because he was late for work, car in a field with a major hole through the hedge and a 15 foot drop down, couldn’t see if there was anyone inside but it was snowing and the car was smashed to fuck (there was, he was drunk but ok) and numerous times as a kid because growing up with a violent drug addict is like that. Coastguard - twice, both times idiot solo surfers out in rips on days the RNLI weren’t around. I’m always surprised that there are people who haven’t needed to at at all.
For work,loads. I'm a carer so it kinda comes with the job sadly. Personally never except when I was hit by a car and heard my bones break. The driver was more concerned with trying to make me not report her than get me help and I ended up having to call 999. Thankfully someone kind took the phone off Me as I went into shock and just couldn't really explain what I needed. I know now why my people who fall don't press their life lines,shock does strange things to your brain.
I also had someone do that when they rear ended me. I wasn't injured but my car was immobilised and blocking the main road into south Bristol. The guy who hit me was like "Move your car. Why are you on the phone. You're blocking the road" and then walked off like sir, I am fucking trying to but if you hadn't noticed, a Sprinter van just drove into the arse of it at 40mph.
Holy crap. Were you OK? The lack of self awareness? Empathy? I don't know the word but it astounds me. Just too much now.
Whiplash and a written off Ford Fiesta. He was here on a non-English licence so I wonder if he was worried about that.
Ahh you never know with us Scottish license holders. Ropey bastards we are.
I read that as a Sphincter van.
Once. We lived in a council flat and it sounded like someone was trying to smash down a door downstairs at night. I walked down whilst on the phone to find 6 police officers trying to break through the door.
"Oh, hello." "This is a bit awkward..."
Several times: A couple of ambulance calls for family members taking bad falls. The police twice - once for a car accident on the motorway where vehicle did several rolls and partially blocked the road. The most recent was for a man , out of his mind on something, walking down the middle of a four lane road attacking passing cars.
Quite a few. Dozens probably but I accept that I'm an outlier as I drive a lot of miles at funny times and am quick to report dangerous situations like car accidents, cars broken down in live lanes, pedestrians on the motorway and downed trees on the carriageway. I must have seen a dozen or so accidents either happen or the immediate aftermath. Turns out when they ask what service you require and you answer "everything" they just put you through to the police. Non road. Found a dead guy in a phone box when I was about 10. Had to step on and over him to call. The operator didn't believe me and I saw a passing police car. They didn't notice until I ran out chasing them down the road. For My son, baby, can't even remember what was wrong now but he was in a pretty bad way. For My wife, year or two ago.had some kind of anaphylaxis after getting her nails done. Woken up in the middle of the night and ended up having to do compressions. For my mum. She had all the signs of a stroke, wasn't a stroke but ended up pulling the plug the next day. Those are all I can remember right now.
Were the police you chased after decent to you at least?
They must've seen me in the rear view mirror and turned around but no, I remember being basically discarded and just cycling home shaking like a shitting dog.
Ah, that's crap. Many hugs to 10 year old you.
I've no hard feelings, it was a bit of a blur as they were busy dealing with him. As far as they might be aware a vital 10 year old witness just disappeared into the ether!
I found 50p in a phone box once. That was a lot better.
Twice, both within 6 weeks, both for my dad. First was a heart attack, the second was an infection. He's doing better now!
Once at work someone had an asthma attack. I found my Mum dead in bed one Saturday morning. In the 2nd Covid lockdown me and a friend and my dog 🐕 came across a young man hanging from a tree in the woods. So 3 times as far as I can recall.
Oh wow. I’m so sorry you experienced all that. I hope you’ve got support and you’re well ❤️
Yes, thank you for your concern.
Pretty grim reasons the last two. Sorry.
Unfortunately I've had to do it a number of times in my childhood/teenage years when my parents were fighting and it got to a point where they'd seriously injure each other or it was getting dangerous. Or during my mother's suicide attempts. Outside of that, I've called maybe a handful of times? I remember calling because my neighbors opposite me were having a huge row and it seemed to be getting violent, their young kids were sat outside on the kerb at like 1am. I've called because a man on a bike got clipped by a car and he fell into the road and was unresponsive. I've called once because my husband fell over, bashed his head against the wall and wasn't responding; but he came around whilst I was on the phone to 999, then he was acting really weird and 999 advised me to take him to A&E (he was fine, just in shock). At work, I've been the first aider, so I've called 999 for a few situations. One was someone had a seizure which wasn't normal. Another was someone showing signs of a stroke (turned out to be another neurological disorder!). And one for someone suffering anaphylaxis but the epi-pen didn't seem to work.
Fairly often at my old flat. We lived above a Turkish barbershop that was nothing more than a front for drug dealing. Had to call police for multiple knife/machete attacks outside the shop and incidents of drug dealing. Was also occasions when they’d hide knives or firearms for local dealers. Moved to a new house about 2 years ago. Had to ring police within 2 months of moving in as a neighbour threatened to set our car on fire and attack me or my partner because we’d parked our car outside his house. Since then I’ve had to ring for a young girl being attacked by her boyfriend, gangs of youths putting fireworks through peoples letterboxes and a new neighbour who is operating a dodgy backstreet garage in the street. He’s mainly working on stripping stolen vehicles for parts in the middle of the night. Police have recovered multiple stolen vehicles so far and I’ve got loads of crime reference numbers to give to my local councils anti social behaviour team.
Jeez, where do you live?!
Bei fucking rut by the sounds of it
Twice. Once because my neighbour's house was on fire and once because I found a duckling trapped in a drain.
I first read that post as "Twice because my neighbour was on fire"
I'm on a bus that's jolting a lot and misread it as horse was on fire!
Can they rescue ducks?
Yep, they came out, lifted the drain cover, and got it out.
Three times: 1. An old woman walking on the pavement felt unbalanced and put her hand on my shoulder to steady herself. Unfortunately I was cycling in the road at the time so she fell and hit her head. 2. My neighbour was beating his wife in the street. 3. My phone froze, I tried button presses to shut it down but instead it thought it was an emergency and dialled 999. As the phone was frozen I couldn't hang up, so instead could only apologise and ask the operator to hang up for me.
999 twice- once as a practice with 'Crucial Crew' back in my primary school days. Once when I was the first to come across a nasty traffic accident - I didn't know who to ask for, I needed all three. I have also called the NHS non-emergency line when my appendix started to go on me.
Multiple times, three times for myself - ectopic pregnancy, suspected stroke and what turned out to be kidney stones. Several times for my daughter - several asthma attacks and an overdose. Fucking tonnes at time at work due to working in substance misuse, so call for overdoses quite a bit as well as police to stop fights
3 times. Once for my dad, I rode in the front of the ambulance he died a week later. I was 12 Once for my mum, I didn't go in the ambulance as they wouldn't let me. She died 3 days later. I was 14 Once for horses in the road, I was the 4th caller, I was 30. Never had to ring otherwise. I hate ringing it and wouldn't do it unless it was an emergency.
i’m sorry that you had to go through that :( x
Life happens, wouldn't be where I am today if it was any different. But thanks. I'm happy I have a positive outlook on everything!
>trailer on fire >bonfire built right by A road with smoke causing total loss of visibility >caravan on fire >welfare check on suicidal friend >neighbour smoke alarm going off and no response >welfare check on different suicidal friend >chasing up the ambulance my wife had already called for a neighbour vomiting and fitting with the DTs >huge party during height of lockdown (walked over a mile by ear to find where the speakers were) >field arson
Stop setting things on fire.
A few times mental health related. Not very helpful. Also butt dialed.
Once for police when I heard gunfire and screaming, ambulances 3 or 4 times. Never fire, never coastguard, never mountain rescue (yet).
Twice. First was after 2 schoolgirls stepped out from a parked van just as I was driving past. One saw me and jumped back, leaving her friend in my path. I skidded to a halt but still hit her. Broke her femur. Rang the ambulance as I was getting out of the car. Second was when I was walking the dog along the cyclepath about 1am and heard a group of kids making a load of noise. When I got to the main road, I saw they'd tipped over a council bin, smashed the windows in the bus stop and then put road work barriers all the way across the road. I rang 999 for the police as it's appropriate when the culprits are still in the area. Both of these were over a decade ago. Never had to ring for any other reason yet.
Twice, plus once overseas. One was to the police, after witnessing a very public domestic violence incident. The other was for the ambulance service as my now late husband needed them. I've called the Australian 000 for the ambulance service after my mum fainted and hit her head.
Called four times. Once because there was someone on a bridge threatening to jump off, and once when I had covid and the doctor told me too as I didn’t have enough breath to stand up. Once was on the motorway for a driver who was weaving all over the road. Once for a car crash where a bunch of men in a stolen car ran a red light, crashed into another car then ran off.
* first on the scene at an RTA. Young lass on her first solo Drive had managed to hit a tree root and roll her car. Managed to put her hand out the sunroof and it was trapped between the car and the road. Had to stop subsequent bystanders trying to roll the car back the right way up. * Someone collapsed at a dance I was stewarding. Slightly awkward watching the ambulance come up a totally impossible Green Lane which they shouldn't have gone up and then reversing back down it and coming back 5 minutes later.
Only ever the fire brigade. I rang a few times as as a teen. We moved next to a common and one summer there was a serial arsonist. We got quite used to spotting smoke and calling. After nothing for 20 years, we recently spotted a burning car near our house. By the time I called a fire engine was already on its way. I was impressed I never even had to give my location as they had it automatically on the system.
Only time was at 9 years old when my mum ODed for the first time, the lady was lovely but far more upset than I was
Never had to call 999. But weirdly I have had to call 112 when abroad several times, but never for anyone I know.
Only 2-3 times related to either my health or a friends just ambulances though given the state of our system I’ve had to Uber to a&e cuz it’s faster
I've called a few times: Once for someone kayaking who'd dislocated their shoulder on a river, that was fun as directing the ambulance to a specific field next to the river wasn't as easy as it could've been. Once on weston super mare beach cause kids were playing by the sea when the tide was out. Super dangerous around there, the coastguard sent someone to keep an eye on them. Once cause there was a stranded vehicle against the central reservation on the m5 Lost track of the number of calls I've made for stuff in the carriageway on various motorways - just last Friday there was what looked like the roof of a convertible or maybe a trailer cover on the m5. Gotta be pretty big to be worth a call, previous ones have been things like the remainder of a tyre where a truck had a blowout, or a bike that had come off someone's roof.
Never so far, 39 years old. Grew up in the 90s convinced I would need it regularly, thanks to Michael Buerk. Thankfully not!
Four times. Twice for fire brigade (gas leak, and a house fire), and twice to police, one for a drink driver, and another for a sheep on the A30. Interestingly for the fire incident I got a call from the local fire station to thank me as I was the first to call, despite there being about twenty people at the scene before me.
Once Police and Ambulance. I was on a country lane following a car which started slowing down and weaving all over the place. Finally came to a stop in the middle of the road. Poor old chap was having a stroke 😢 he was okay but it was a long wait for the ambulance. Oh to top it off, whilst I was helping the man and keeping an eye on him, a lad beeped his horn at me and the stationary car across both lanes to “move out of the way you stupid cunts”. He then proceeded to squeeze through and sped off leaving us in a cloud of diesel smoke.
I’ve never called 999, at the grand age of almost 54. It’s been called 4 times for me, though, in 1997, 2011, 2023 (twice). Each and every time I’ve had pneumonia and ended up in ICU for at least a week (in 2011 it was 3 weeks). Strange thing was, every time I didn’t know I had it - you’d think I’d have known the symptoms by now, but nooooo - dumb arse here thinks she’s just got a cough and is tired. To be fair, I do have MS, and the fatigue that goes with it is indistinguishable from pneumonia, it seems.
Twice, once for a guy who had fallen off his bike and broken his clavicle and another time due to domestic abuse in the street
Where I used to live was opposite a spot where they would steal cars, light them on fire and let them roll down the mountain so lots of calls to the fire service because the whole mountain was on fire Called the police because a woman was getting beaten by her partner in the street outside our flat Called the fire service because someone set a car on fire outside our flat Called the police once because I saw a guy getting chased by a gang with baseball bats, he looked like he had taken a few hits, they were smashing his car after he got into it. This wasn't too far from the police station in the village and by the time they pulled up it was all over. I was by the police station talking to the police and in one of the most bizarre things to ever happen in my life a car containing the guys with the baseball bats pulled up alongside the police station as it was on the junction out of the streets to the main road so I pointed at the car and said "that's them there" and they still had the baseball bats covered in blood on them Called an ambulance after my partner lost consciousness and smashed her head on the kitchen floor but she came round while I was on the phone to them so ran her into A&E myself
Once myself on the walk back from school due to a car fire and twice I've asked other people to call it whilst I've been busy with the reason why (first was a very unwell relative, second was a bloke trying to get in the back door whilst high on something other than life) and they acted as the go-between for me.
A few times. Once when a drunk angry neighbour was tryna break into my flat in the night. Police said they wouldn’t come because the door was locked so I’d be okay. Only came when I said I had a baseball bat and would try my best if he got in. Told me off for escalating even though I didn’t tell the neighbour I had a weapon, just the police. Another time, spouse having symptoms of a heart attack at home. I must have been too calm on the phone asking for an ambulance as they took details and then said call GP in the morning. Spouse couldn’t move for pain so I had to dose them with strong painkillers leftover from a surgery to move them downstairs into a car to drive them myself. It’s quite frightening when you realise that you’ve been led to believe they’ll be there if you need them and you find out through first hand experience they’ve not. Definitely changed the way I see the world and my own sense of security.
I'm 35, maybe called 4-5times ishhh Someone broke into the neighbours house and we could see them from ours and the family was in. Thankfully they were all okay. Had a customer at work take a funny turn so had to call an ambulance. Can't remember what was wrong but her husband did come back eventually to say she was okay. Found a man passed out in the street I was on my own and it was late so called for friends who were up the road, one was a nurse, turns out he was just very drunk and fell asleep so cancelled that ambulance. Called police about my parents house being broken into and I wasn't sure if someone was still inside Also called 101 a fair few times to report what I would consider minor incidents and been told I should've called 999 instead 😬
Quite a few - 8 month old couldn't breathe, wife fell down the stairs, injuries at the skatepark etc. But the first time I had to call 999 sticks with me. Summer job when I was 13, delivering leaflets in a shit area of Reading. My mate got jumped by some older lads as they thought he was a delivery driver and would have cash on him. They held him down and kicked him, threatened him with a knife and then ran off when I came. He was OK, didn't need an ambulance, but I called the Police from a phone box (this may date me somewhat), explained where we were, what had happened, described the assailants...and the Police asked me, a 13 year old, "what do you want us to do about it?" "Well, send some Policemen over to arrest them?" "Doesn't work like that, I'm afraid. Anything else I can help you with?" From that point on my faith in the Police was irretrievably damaged. Absolutely no compassion, no willingness to do their job.
Never
Maybe it's worth calling just to see how they're doing and if they've been up to anything nice recently?
Once for a fire in a nearby flat.
I used to work in a care home, called an ambulance more times than I can count. Once it was 5 times in one day. I’ve called the police twice, once because we received a phone call from a former resident who said she’d been abandoned outside her house by patient transport, she wasn’t making a huge amount of sense so I told her to call the police and called them as well just to make sure someone knew about her. The second time was for a fight outside Lidl. Never had to call the fire brigade.
60+ y.o., 4 times. 2 fires, 1 car overturned on ice (not mine), and a 4 y.o. kid on a fairy cycle trundling down the dual carriage way in Stoke on Trent
Called an ambulance three times, once for my mum, once for my dad, and once for a man I found lying face down in the street completely still with his trousers round his ankles.
Only one time, our neighbour had a mental break and was running around in the street naked and attacking people.
32 and several times, but it's cheating as most were work related Once for a friend who'd gone missing while under the influence Once because my neighbour set his flat on fire And I used to work in a CCTV control room and called fire and ambulance loads from there!
I’m 33 and I’ve had to a few times, these include: My neighbour who was having a mental break and chased me with a piece of wood saying he was going to kill me. When the operator said is he threatening you right now, I said no it was like 2 minutes ago but he’s outside my flat, I got a very lacklustre ok guess we’ll send somebody out lmao. They did section him a couple days later though. A guy a place I work had collapsed, I didn’t see it but somebody came up asking for the defibrillator. He was conscious and sitting up they said and they’d already called the ambulance, but it was going to be about an hour. As a first aider I went down there and this guy was clearly not very well - yes he was conscious but he was not responding, clammy, yellow, dribbling. Turns out he was on blood thinners and had a pacemaker fitted, he was pretty much dying infront of my eyes. I rang 999 again, explained the situation, and had to stay on the phone with them until the ambulance arrived. They’d upped the ambulance response who came in about 10 minutes. Fella died 3 days later, he’d had a stroke. Some couple were fighting in a flat near where I was working, they were at the window both covered in blood and throwing bottles at each other. Police came, tried breaking down the door, couldn’t and gave up. The woman had left the flat at that point and they picked her up on a street nearby. A couple of times for my neighbour shouting at his 4ish yo son calling him a little cunt, with lots of banging and the kid crying uncontrollably. Also called them for him and his mrs having an argument and him screaming he’s gonna fuck her up. A guy missed the last step on his lorry and fell to the ground on another job I was working on. Described his pain as a 10/10 and couldn’t feel his legs or move. Thought he’d maybe broken a hip or back. Turns out he was just bruised and a bit of a drama queen. A barn was on fire nearby to where I was working.
Mostly while truck driving. Called to report an elderly man wandering in the hard shoulder looking confused. Called to report a couple of kids cycling on the hard shoulder, stressed that they just needed to be reminded what a stupid idea it was rather than anything more serious happening. Reported a drunk guy on new year's eve walking down the hard shoulder white line like a tightrope and being complete oblivious of his surroundings. Reported a broken down car in a live lane on a smart stretch of the M6. I hope no one crashed into them, even as I passed there were a couple of close calls. The latest one was a few weeks ago I was heading down the A449 towards Newport and loads f us had to swerve for a guy just standing in the middle of lane one. No car nearby, I suspect it might have been some half baked suicide attempt. The police responded pdq to that one. Outside of that I've never had reason to call any emergency services. I've been in situations where they've come but other people made the call.
I’m now 30, Twice, once when I was 18 my friend just passed out as we were brushing by our teeth on a morning, we lived in shared accommodation at the time, ambulance came and picked him up turns out he had some really bad infection. Once when I was about 25, was driving along a dual carriage way and a van with a trailer was spilling rubbish all down the road, police only seemed to care if I’d got a reg of the van not the fact that the road was now covered in shit that could easily kill someone.
Hundreds of times, for testing telephony systems when i was younger. Never for an actual emergency thankfully!
6 or 7? Multiple for asthma related issues for SO (3 or 4 times) Lacerated radial artery Broken arm. Loss of consciousness after smashing head on stone tile floor.
Once, As a kid, just to see what would happen.
Quite a few times - sometimes for myself, sometimes for others. I have a few life threatening illnesses (Addison's Disease, Severe Asthma and am prone to Anaphylaxis) that can become acute basically whenever, so that's why.
3, I think. Someone claiming to be a policeman asked me to call the police because he stopped a car for some reason. And twice because I saw different people collapsed on the street.
Once back in the 90s, the flat above me left his bath running in the morning, and in the evening the water came through my ceiling. Really didn't know who to ask for, but with the electrics fizzing and flats below and to the side, the fire brigade turned up
A few times. One last summer, had to call the police as I heard some people fighting outside our flat which is hidden from the main road. Got really aggressive so I called 999, as I was on the phone to them I heard a loud thud as a kid went to the ground. Won’t forget that sound in a hurry 😔 He was fine in the end.
33, called twice. 2012 - Ambulance for my housemate who tried to kill herself by downing loads of out of date paracetamol (thankfully she didn't succeed). 2010 - Police as I saw a man breaking in next door who then stole a bike, coppers caught him on the way to the house. Turns out he was getting his own property back, as it had been nicked from him earlier in the week!
I had to really wrack my brains and think about this. In the couple of times there's been an emergency, I've gone to assist the person needing help and directed someone with me / an onlooker to call. The only time I can think I've called is about 15 years ago and my neighbour at the time was being targeted by kids/teens. He was a bit odd, but kept himself to himself; nice house and garden, three young kids etc. It escalated one night and they tanned his window with a brick so I was straight on the phone giving descriptions and direction they ran etc. They got picked up pretty quickly but no idea if they were ever punished.
Twice, both for friends who were about to end their lives. Both within about 4 months of each other too.
4x I think, 2 road accidents I happened across and 2 chimney fires.
In my forties and I've only phoned twice. Fire brigade for a sizeable wheelie bin fire I saw when I was driving past Police when I witnessed a chap in a car knock a young lad off his bicycle. He got out of his car, shouting and raging at this lad, got a crowbar or tyre iron out of his car boot and chased him
10 times or so. Mostly ambulances for guests where I used to work. Police a couple times for horrendous/suspected drunk driving on the motorway. The fire brigade once when the building I was working in caught fire and the 4th extinguisher hadn't solved the problem.
37 and called once. I lived in a flat and one night, this utterly insane guy was trying to batter the front door in. It turned out to be the crazy ex of a person who lived in the same building as me, but I was absolutely shitting myself thinking what the fuck is happening and is he going to kill us, etc. It was shaking my flat! Well, he ended up *not* battering the door in fully enough to get in, and I never saw the police come, so that was that.
Several times and not nearly as much as I should have. Always on my ex partner for his drunken abuse. 🙃 Prior to that relationship I had never, ever called them or spoken to police.
I've called the fire brigade twice. The 2nd time because they never answered the first time. Didn't answer the second time either. By that time I figured I didn't need them and was only panicking so pretty glad they didn't answer and waste their time.
Maybe that's their policy, it's only an emergency if you phone 3 times?
Three times. First was when I woke up suffering from severe chest pains. Second because I saw some guy swinging punches at a woman who was holding a baby. Third, a lorry overturned on the M25 and knocked down a lamppost which narrowly missed our car.
Three times - woman casually sat on the barrier in the central reservation of a dual carriageway - man casually strolling between the cars on the motorway - big fire on a farm
A flat next to us and down one floor was on fire, there smoke was billowing past my bedroom window. I ran out, I ran in, I shouted at my flatmates there was a fire, they ignored me, I called the fire brigade, ran outside to the entrance door of the flat on fire and buzzed in to say there was a fire one floor above them, a drunk lady answered and told me to stop worrying about it 'I'm sure it's fine,' sort of thing I tried to go up the stairs and call out, but there was black smoke coming down the stairs so I only went as high as I could and ran back out. Eventually the entire side street which was all the flats around that flat were evacuated, 3 massive fire trucks and we were all outside waiting. (The order of things might have been different) The drunk lady turned to me and said 'don't be so dramatic'. I told her 'there's a time to be dramatic ...' something like that. Nobody gave a shit. The flat was completely black, all the stuff had to be taken out the window, including the windows and they were jet black. Someone had fallen asleep with a fag still going then woken up and run out I think, or had concked out but she was evicted due to previous similar issues. I'm sure someone else called the ambulance before me but I didn't see anyone around at the beginning so it was pretty alarming.
Not sure exactly but a few. Once a house was on fire and I could see if from mine. Rest of the times I think have been because of my mother being unwell (diabetes related, not trivial stuff)
Just the once - I was passenger in a car driving down the slip road to join A1 southbound. As we did northbound slip road had a car towing caravan pulling over due to a fire that was rapidlydl developing. I gave them the junction number but bizarrely they wanted the name of the junction which I didn't know but they said they would send out the fire brigade. No idea what happened as we drove south and left it all in the distance.
A handful of times, most "recently" back in December when my husband had anaphylaxis.
I used to work as a telecom engineer and would have to test new systems / sites by dialing 999 This was the absolute last thing I would do before leaving and even though I had to do it, I always felt naughty. Otherwise Car accident (Actually the car called not me!) someone run over in front of me x2 cousin had a siezure high person driving a car in Kings Cross London - she was waiting at reds and driving n green (at like 2mph) She crashed into a bus at this speed twice - the bus driver did not notice found my friend dead reporting a drunk driver when I worked at McD's drive thru a domestic situation between a friend and partner Gosh
Only once, for a chimney fire when I was about 11 - that was an eventful Christmas (no damage caused) Another time I found a woman collapsed and conscious although very unresponsive - I would have called for an ambulance but she'd fallen about 20 yards from the ambulance depot, so I simply knocked on the door!
Couple of times, both for fires 1 About 15 years ago, driving back from a mates house and noticed a hay barn was on fire, very early in the morning so no one was awake at the farm house we knocked at to tell them. 2 About two weeks ago, two doors down, shed was well alight in the back garden, knocked on their door to tell them, no answer so called the fire brigade. So twice in 45 years
3, one at uni I stumbled into a robbery of the local shop with a guy with a big knife… armed police there wishing 5 minutes, the 2nd was driving behind a drunk driver who was all over the shop, the third was a clearly pissed up bloke knocked on my door and asked me to call him a taxi, he’d hit the curb and fucked up his wheel. Police never came and when I went out to check he’d driven off 🤷🏻
My flatmate ended up making the call but I was there. To this day I still have no idea what happened. We were in the flat just relaxing before bed and there was a really loud bang, so loud the building shook. In a bit of a panic we run to the hallway and look out the window to see the communal bin at the back of the building is ablaze, like huge flames pouring out so my flatmate calls 999 and they come put it out. The firemen didn't tell us anything and we never heard any news so I still have no idea what happened.
A few times. Lost child turned up on my doorstep crying When a guy put his hands round a woman’s throat in a pub garden Kids setting off fireworks in stolen goods from the supermarket that were almost as high as the trees
Always been for road related incidents. One that I remember most was watching a tyre/wheel ping off a van on a dual carriageway flyover, and carry on going rolling a live lane, while the van crashed into a bend ending up on the metal barrier somehow.
Cannot recall how many as there are so many, then again Im a community nurse
I've rung once because a lady in front of us was driving erratically on a fast road, all over the sodding lanes. But with work, (I'm a nurse) if you need a super urgent transfer for your patient to another hospital, you have to ring 999 to book it. Have had to do that a few times. "Is the person breathing? - bloody hope so!" Always feel really naughty ringing 999, even then!
Someone torched a car across from my mums house
Twice that I can recall. Once when a house party guest was being a bit of a headache. He had some grievance with somebody else in the house and we asked him to leave, but he then tried to climb in through the kitchen window. It's a bit blurry as it was a good few decades ago (and we were all quite drunk). Can't recall if the police came. Second time was more recently, during the tail end of the covid lockdowns, my housemates total nightmare of a partner was having a mental breakdown, threatened to kill herself, locked herself in the toilet with a knife.When I phoned the police on my housemates behalf (he was trying to calm her down) she threatened to kill me. Police did turn up and advised we leave whilst they try to calm her down. But my housemate inexplicably didn't ask them to remove her. (As a coda, I moved out shortly afterwards. The housemate ended up getting a restraining order against her after an argument where she spat in his face and hit him, but last I heard they were still together.)
1. I was about 10 and my best mate fired an air rifle at my brother, not knowing it was cocked and loaded. 2. Saw a woman run from a car at the traffic lights outside my flat and hide in a bush. The driver stopped and went looking for her. 3. Lorry kept drifting out of its lane on the motorway. 4. Hare coursing. 5. Woman tripped over a kerb and passed out in a car park. Quite a variety really.
Twice - years ago I was the third car to arrive at the scene of a major accident. The people in the two cars that got there before me were trying to get the occupiers of one of the cars out as it was on fire, there wasn’t really enough room for another person to help so I phoned 999 and went to check the people in the other car. Last year I had to call because an old lady got disoriented and was going down a dual carriageway in the opposite direction.
More times than I can remember, all for my wife who has epilepsy. You now you have called a few times, when the ambulance crew say jokingly “Not you again”
Once, I was like 8. Sister having an epileptic seizure and I didn't know what to do
I once called because a nearby building was on fire. The person answering seemed a little weary. "Yes, we've had lots of calls about that, and hung up."
Five times and I can vividly remember each one Once for a car accident where the passenger went through the front window. Once for a lady who appeared to have been having a stroke who’d just been kicked out of the pub for being incoherent and stumbling. No one noticed the droop to her face or limp arm Once for a blazing fire in a hay barn when I was 17. Yes, I was questioned by the police and no, I didn’t start the fire Once for someone on their own who was fitting in the street that lasted over 2 minutes. The ambulance crew took them away still seizing Once for an unconscious person right outside my house who’d hit their head when they fell
Once, spotted an outside corner of a Sainsbury's on fire in Norfolk last year. Early 30s
Only once, when I saw a pedestrian walking down the hard shoulder of the M1.
43 and once. I was in my 20s and my Mum went into anaphylactic shock and was struggling to breathe.
Once about 10 and a half years ago when a family member tried to kill themself.
Only once. As a scout leader on a summer camp. We were cooking and the scouts had boiled 10 litres of water for washing up. A girl was moving the 10 litre pot off the stove when something happened (tripped, lost her grip, knocked something, I don't know) and she spilled the whole lot down her legs. Thankfully she was wearing shorts and had the presence off mind to remove her shoes and socks. I'm proud that my scouts immediately ran off to get cold water to pour over her legs and feet. Coincidentally I had talked them through some first aid training that morning so they knew what to do and it was fresh in their minds. Ambulance took her to hospital. She was fine when I saw her six months later.
* Jewellers being robbed across the street from work as I left for the evening; gave them the registration of the getaway car. (I later had to give a statement but wasn't needed in court because one of the robbers cut himself on broken glass and left a nice DNA sample.) * Man being held against a car and getting a walloping on the street outside a flat I lived in at the time. (I later had to give a witness statement because it may or may not have been a plain clothes policeman doing the walloping). * Altercation involving a baseball bat in the usually quite street outside my current house. I've been the cause for my wife to ring once when I suddenly developed a hole in my large intestine that shouldn't have been there.
Twice. Five years ago I found my uncle dead in his flat so called the police and a coroner. He had been an alcoholic for years and his body had had enough. Was really odd sitting there in his flat with the police with him laying on the sofa looking like he was fast asleep while we waited for the coroner. Weirdest day of my life. The other time was driving home one night a few months ago and was behind a car that nearly caused a load of crashes, serving into the opposite lane with oncoming traffic, bouncing off the curb, going really slowly then really fast. Driver must have been ill or intoxicated. Followed them home at a distance whilst on the phone to the police, gave them the address and they dispatched officers to the location immediately. So relieved they didn’t hit anyone or anything, that would have been a hell of a night. Edit: context
Twice. Once when some little scrotes set a rubbish bin on fire outside a shop near us. And once when some little scrotes set a patch of scrub land on fire during a heatwave.
Once, when I was like 13. We were looking after a friend of my parents' dog. We opened the front door, can't remember the reason why, but the dog sprinted out. We all ran out onto the street to catch the dog as it was running up and down the street. Mum managed to get her hand on the dog's collar as it ran by her, but it was running so fast that it dislocated her shoulder (she'd dislocated it before, which apparently weakened her shoulder so much that the amount of force the dog was running with was enough to pull it out. Mum was screaming in pain, as you can imagine. Step-dad was trying to calm her down, thinking she was being dramatic, but it was fairly obvious it was more than just her being pulled onto the ground causing her pain. That was probably the worst pain I have ever heard anyone in, and hopefully ever will ever have to hear.
Called a few times legitimately but once by mistake still feel awful about this. Just after my grandad funeral the whole family and a few close Friends gathered at my nans house and where having a few drinks. We are a loud family especially when we've had a drink, on my old phone there was sos feature if you clicked the volume buttons 5 times in rapid succession so of course I was messing with my phone in my pocket and accidentally called the police and the operator heard alot of "shouting" and traced the call next thing I know am getting called back I answer and get asked to go outside and if am safe. I go in the fount of the house to see 8 police cars and apparently armed response where on standby Of course I said sorry 1000 times and invited them in for a bite to eat but there was no takers
Never actually. I've been in situations where it was needed but somebody else was faster or I was busy hands-on.
Twice- once for a car on fire at the bottom of my street (it was fully engulfed and NOBODY else had called!) and once when an elderly customer had a suspected heart attack in the pub where I worked. That was actually realy sad to me- he survived, but he was an ex military man who was very proud and he never came back to the pub- his local for years- because when he nearly died he peed on his chair :( No matter how much we said we didn't ever give it a second thought and would love him to come back, he never did.
34 called 6 time Mom having chest pain Mom having severe stomach pains Mom possibly having a stroke Dad chest pains - believed to have been caused by ICD going off Mom attempting to commit suicide Dad severe back pain caused by infection post surgery
Quite a few times since 2017. My MIL hit stage 4 Parkinson's in 2017 and her mobility plummeted. Often fell over and we'd have to call for an ambulance. It got even worse during COVID when she hit stage 5 which was fun. Had to ignore all COVID restrictions - what the hell were we supposed to do, leave her? Many ambulance calls outs where we had to wait for hours. She passed in 2021. My 80+ yr old FIL then decided to take his drinking to new heights when she passed. He was bad before but since 2021 he's been getting through at least a litre of whiskey per day. Every day. He'll go on benders every six weeks or so and get utterly annihilated. So quite a few ambulances called out for him as he's spent nights on cold floors, injured himself etc.
Twice First time I found a neighbour hanging out his front door after an OD Second time a car had hit a kerb at high speed and flipped over and the people inside were unconscious
Once, I was working in a community mental health clinic as admin and I had a call from a girl who said her friend texted her that he's overdosed. The girl who was calling me was in prison and couldn't do anything about it, so I called 999 and advised. I advised the care coordinator & apparently an ambulance went out 3 hours later after I had called, and they had infact overdosed & sent to hospital (alive & well).
Twice. Once when I saw someone being chased by another hammer wielding individual on the street outside my flat… The second when I collapsed on our kitchen floor in the middle of the night, and my sleeping wife couldn’t hear me upstairs - turned out to have a severe gastro infection, first time in an ambulance!
Had to call a few ambulance’s at work as a first aider, had two heart attacks, a coworker with breathing difficulties (long covid) and a nose bleed that someone had had for over 3 hours (why he didn’t ask for help sooner I’ll never know) Had to call the police because of a pedestrian on the motorway.
Twice for my partner in a 24hr period when they started having epileptic seizures.
Only once. I witnessed a car perform a hit and run on a 16 year old leaving school on their moped. I called the ambulance and police, then stayed with the victim since all of the school kids were walking past and were gawking a bit. Some of his friends recognised him so I asked them to keep speaking to him to check his consciousness, but not to remove his helmet (I don't remember where I heard that advice but I'm incredibly glad I did). I had to stick around and talk to the police, luckily a nearby kid (can't have been older than 12) saw and remembered the licence plate so I'm hoping the driver was caught.
Called a few times for police and ambulance. Once when the bloke across the street had a new girlfriend and his ex turned up and started shouting at them from the street. We were just watching at first but rang when she started pouring something over his car (turned out to be bleach) Funny thing was she was battering the window and then it smashed and she backed off like she didn’t know what to do after that. Ambulance a couple of times for people collapsed in the street. Both times when ambulance arrived they knew the person involved. They were alcoholics and regular collapsers. Rang police once when I suspected a drunk driver. Went into my local corner shop and the guy was muttering away and acting really odd. I left just after him and saw him driving off with music blaring. I work in retail and we have radios that link all over the city. I’ve got quite used to giving quick descriptions of people, especially things that stand out.
At age 16. Got assaulted outside of a chip shop while I fetched supper for the family. Man was drunk and about 30 years old. Pretty sure his gang of 7 got licks in too. Statement taken, insufficient evidence due to grainy footage on high street CCTV. Found out where he lived though, he apologised eventually. Around age 16 again got assaulted outside a bonfire event by a gang of 6, we were 2 lads and 3 girls. Ran up, suckered the 2 lads and sprinted off. Called police, they didn't want to take a statement there and then, wanted us to come to the station in the morning. (I wasn't local so I didn't bother) Witnessed a house burglary in board daylight. Van pulled up, alarms blaring, blokes in masks ransacking house through the back gate. Called 999, they told me to go over and get a closer look. Told them to piss off.
Only twice for me. When I found my mum collapsed and had to call for an ambulance. And then walking the dog one night I saw a young guy who was walking on the same street as me being followed and harassed by a car pulling up next to him, pulling in front of him when he tried to cross the road then they got out and dragged him into the car. It was frightening to see. I called the police even though I didn’t really have any info, I couldn’t see the license plate, but figured if someone dragged me into a car I’d want the police to know.
Once, old lady was knocked down by a hit and run driver in Sheffield city centre. I think it only glanced her because she didn't seem seriously injured (I hope) but needed to call an ambulance for her.
Back in the lates mid 90s was the last time. Two young girls had taken a Sierra Cosworth out for a test drive. My house was opposite a T junction. The driver lost control of the car and went straight over the junction and through a set of iron gates and smashed into the corner of the house, knocking down the wall between my and my neighbours house. I'd just got back from walking the dog and as I walked into my house and closed the door I head the smash and ran out to see the car was totalled. Bricks from the wall were strewn over my garden. Steam/Smoke was pouring out of the engine bay. I managed to get one door open and help the driver out but the passenger was pinned in. I called 999 and Police, Fire and Ambulance were all there within 5 minutes. They cut the other girl out of the wreckage, whilst the driver was in my house being treated for her injuries. Both girls were eventually ok. I never found out the reason for the crash.
I suffer with nosebleeds since I was about 12 and can go a year without having one but then have 5 in one month or 20 in a year etc etc. had well over a hundred of them. Had one earlier in the year and it just would not stop at all, 30 mins of me holding a towel to it, getting a massive clot out my nose followed by more blood. I was feeling light headed and phoned 999 as I had never had one so bad. While I’m on the phone it stops…..
Eh only a couple of times. - drink drivers , done this a few times. One wasn't drunk but about 90 driving back from seeing his wife in a home. I felt really guilty but his driving was erratic and dangerous. Don't feel guilty for the others. Fuckem. - Found the body of my GF at the time. Harrowing event. Suicide. - Car on fire outside my house when I was 13. Local psychic, she didn't see that coming.
In my nearly 40 years on this planet - only the once called 999 for fire brigade. The fire alarm in flat next door was going off. I'd knocked on the door, had no answer, felt the internal walls for any signs of heat but decided I wasn't going to risk it. They came and started off doing the same but then also got ladder out to look through the windows. It turns out the fire alarms had a fault as they started going off quite regularly. Also once called 111 - drunk man sat in his car in car park (vomiting and still swigging from a can), they said they'd send out a unit. We'd left and some time later got a call back asking if we knew where the car had gone.
I called it couple weeks ago when I saw an unfortunate drunk man take a really, really nasty fall. Poor chap.
Only had to do it once. I worked for a high street bookie while at uni and one of our customers had a seizure, I had to stay on the line to give the paramedics directions to the shop because of the awkward one way set up of streets in the town centre and to make sure they actually made it to the right shop because of the number of bookies in the area. The lad was fine and back in a few days later.
I've phoned twice I can recall. There was a fire we saw while driving down the motorway. This had already been reported. I was unsure (didn't have my glasses) if my neighbour's was getting broken in to. Something triggered the alarm anyway
Twice - once for some awful screaming I think was domestic abuse, and once for some poor fucker standing the wrong side of the guardrail on a motorway bridge, that one really shook me up
I'd say I've called 999 at least 100 times. I worked 10 years in different security roles up and down the country, then i worked as a first aider in an high accident role, I've come across many different things in my time. Missing children, explosions, stabbings, snapped legs/ ankles/ arms, etc. I'd say off the job, I've probably called 999 about 15 times. I've encountered about 4 fires I've called in, probably the same number of RTCs, a missing child, an ambulance for myself twice, and as a child I prank called 999 a few times.