Saturday, 23 September 2023

999

 

999

999 is the UK emergency number. If we require the immediate assistance of police, fire or ambulance our trembling finger jabs that number. It is also the number to be called if help is needed from HM Coastguard, Mountain or Cave Rescue and also for Lowland Search and Rescue.

The Berkshire Lowland Search and Rescue team can sometimes be found training in one of our local woods. On one occasion, when we were returning from a walk, Bertie, our late very placid and gentlemanly Labrador suddenly stopped, stood stock still and barked ferociously at a bush several yards away. Sure enough, a volunteer was hiding in it, waiting to be ‘rescued’.

We count ourselves extremely fortunate that we have had little need to call the emergency services. Once we had to call the local fire brigade when our daughter’s car caught fire. 

Crowthorne is an on-call (retained) fire service that has always been crewed by local people. A retained firefighter is a trained professional who may have a full-time job without the fire service but responds to emergency calls in the area.

On the occasion of the car fire, Barry had just got home from the ‘village’, which is more of a small town, actually, where he had been chatting to one of the retained firemen in a local shop. The car caught fire, though I can’t remember how or why, and 999 was called. Among the fire crew who attended was the chap Barry had been talking to a few minutes before. It was quite funny, really, when we looked back on it.

Whenever Barry set off on a sailing trip he always made sure I knew where he was going and what times he would call me, as he always liked to contact me daily. It was a safety strategy, as he had no desire to sail off the edge of the world! He said, ‘If you don’t hear from me by . . . (whatever time it was) . . . call the Coastguard.’ This was in the days before mobile ‘phones and GPS when courses were plotted on charts. 

I didn’t think any more of it until the day I didn’t hear from him. Feeling a little apprehensive, I called 999 and a rather bored-sounding operator said, ‘Which service do you require?’ When I said, ‘Coastguard’ I could almost hear her sit up straight as her voice changed. We don’t live anywhere near the coast so I suppose it was surprising.

I explained the safety plan to the Coastguard and where Barry had been heading. He then asked me, ‘What colour is the yacht’s deck?’ I told him it was white. Most boats have white decks so I couldn’t see how that could help, but he was the expert and I was now rather worried. He said he’d call me back with any news. A couple of hours later he called to say, ‘We’ve found your wandering boy.’ I was mightily relieved.

 It turned out that the boat was outside St-Vaast-La-Hougue, in Normandy, north-western France, unable to get into the port because it was low tide and the lock gates were closed.


                         Images of St-Vaast-La-Hougue courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

12 comments:

  1. I always watch Scottish Ambulance Service, What's Your Emergency? London's Burning etc because the emergency workers take amazing risks and do heroic jobs. But I notice that the time taken from the first 999 call to the time they reach the patient/victim is getting longer. Are these services under funded?

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    1. Partly underfunded, partly used incorrectly, particularly the ambulance service. Some people don't seem to understand what 'emergency' means.

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  2. That must have been a relief but it is better to have a plan and I am sure the coast guard would agree with you.
    Our emergency number is 000. Young people seem to think it is 911, for obvious reasons. The international number should still work. I think it's 112. There was something about our early mobile phones not being able to dial 000. As incentive to have them reprogrammed, I was offered a nice whip aerial rather than the short stubby one on my phone back then.

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    1. The coastguard agreed - better safe than sorry!

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  3. Thank goodness for Coastguards! As Andrew says, our number is 000 and I am glad I have never had to call it.

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    1. Our emergency services are undersung heroes, not appreciated until needed.

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  4. your husband found in France, I still do not know at whom Bertie was barking ! That's frustrating. Was it a corpse, a deer, or somebody who did a little nap ?

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  5. Bertie was barking at someone hiding in a bush, pretending to be lost, to train search and rescue dogs.

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  6. Very sensible to have a safety plan, and I'm glad the coastguard was able to trace your husband. However, my mind boggles as to how knowing the yacht's deck was white could have helped them ...
    We don't have 999 by the way. We either dial 100 for fire brigade or ambulance or 101 for the police. Or, 112, the international emergency number for any of them. xxx

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    1. My husband always has a plan and a back-up plan and a back-up back-up plan . . .

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  7. A nerve-wracking time, I would think. I find it somehow intimidating to call emergency services. Seems so simple on TV or in the movies, so hard in real life. I had to call 911 for an ambulance for my mother once, and another time for a car that had gone off the road. It felt so surreal, but after those experiences I have a better idea what to expect and would feel more comfortable calling again. I'm glad your husband was safe and sound.

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  8. Some people call the emergency services for the most ridiculous reasons. I think that's why the rest of us feel awkward sometimes.

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