999-emergency

[Gob]

The world’s first emergency phone number – 999 – was introduced in London on this day in 1937 after firefighters failed to save the lives of five women in a house fire.



The public - who had previously phoned their local police, fire or ambulance station directly - were at first unsure about what they could and couldn’t use the service for.

Yet despite newspaper advice – such as to dial if “the man in the flat next to yours is murdering his wife” but not if “you have lost little Towser” – 999 was an instant hit.

Within a week it had led to its first arrest after suspected burglar Thomas Duffy was found by police less than five minutes after a call had been made.

The service, which initially only covered a 12-mile radius around Oxford Circus, was rolled out to other major cities after the Second World War.

A British Pathé newsreel from 1948 demonstrated how the system then worked from the moment a call is received at Scotland Yard’s information room.

A radio operator relays the message to a squad car that an alleged bogus electric light inspector has been reported by a housewife in Acton, West London.

An officer is seen knocking at the woman’s door to get a description and minutes later police apprehend the suspect after driving in the direction he was seen walking in.

Yet, despite the success of the number - chosen because it was easiest to make in the dark with a rotary dial - it was not available across the whole of Britain until 1976.

Last year, 37million 999 calls were made – although half were either pranks or unintentional.

The British number is much easier to accidentally dial on a pocketed mobile phone than the American equivalent of 911 or European 112, which is also valid in the UK.

Of the calls that were put through, 52 per cent are asked for police, 41 per cent ambulance, six per cent fire brigade and one 1 per cent coast guard.

This is what it resulted in....