Bizarre moment council tells emergency callers trying to reach firefighters on 999 to ‘visit your nearest fire station’ instead in now-deleted tweet – after nationwide technical fault meant people couldn’t get through on hotline
- Norfolk County Council tweeted the advice earlier which has now been deleted
- Police forces shared news 999 was experiencing ‘technical fault’ this morning
A county council bizarrely advised 999 callers seeking firefighters’ assistance to ‘visit your nearest fire station’ before swiftly deleting the tweet after a nationwide technical fault.
Throughout the day 999 calls have not been connecting for several emergency services and Britons have been told to call 101 instead. BT has confirmed the disruption is still ongoing.
Norfolk County Council tweeted earlier that anyone in need of assistance should attend a fire station, much to the surprise of Norfolk locals.
One resident responded: ‘Ah yes! Excellent advice here from Norfolk County Council. None of this namby-pamby calling for help here! No siree. We are so tough we visit the fire station whilst in flames.’
Another quipped: ‘Exactly – we can fight our own fires here! #tough.’
A third said: ‘Maybe you could drag your burning house to the local fire station too!’
BT has said engineers are still ‘working hard’ to determine the cause of the issue.
A back-up system is allowing for calls to be received but the substitute location tool, which identifies a user’s whereabouts with an automatic text, is ‘not as effective’ as the primary 999 system, the Metropolitan Police said.
Norfolk County Council tweeted that anyone in need of assistance should attend a fire station, much to the surprise of Norfolk locals
Met Police posted on Twitter : ‘Due to a technical fault that is impacting a number of police forces, many 999 calls are not connecting’ (file image)
A spokesperson said: ‘Earlier today we experienced a technical fault that impacted our primary 999 lines and we defaulted to our back-up system.
‘The issue is ongoing, but we do know it was caused by a technical fault.
‘This was not connected to any third parties and is not related to today’s hot weather or the separate Android handset issue reported earlier this week.
‘Our engineers and technical experts are working hard to determine the cause, but our priority is getting the primary 999 lines up and running as soon as possible.
‘As with all critical national infrastructure, we can’t share technical information on how the system works or give details on the architecture of the back-up solution.’
The Met said the back-up system was ‘not as effective at telling us where you are calling from’. ‘Help us by having the address of the emergency ready,’ the force added.
‘If you don’t know the address, look around for a street name or obvious landmark.’
Bedfordshire Police said ‘Normal location services are still unavailable on 999 so please consider using £what3words if the address of the emergency is unknown.
Norfolk residents responded to the bizarre tweet earlier today, with some joking that they would have to drag their burning house to the fire station for assistance
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‘A full investigation is under way to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.’
Emergency services across the country confirmed they were able to receive 999 calls again at around 10am but some warned they were still experiencing residual difficulties.
BT said it had implemented a back-up platform after issues with 999 calls connecting were reported at around 8.30am on Sunday and people were told to call 101 in an emergency for police and fire, or 111 in a medical emergency.
Several police forces and fire and ambulance services said they had issues and BT had reported a “system failure”.
Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service warned of a 30-second delay to connect to 999, while Suffolk Police said its system may not be working to full capacity and urged people to use 999 only in a genuine emergency.
A Government spokesperson said: “We are aware of a technical issue with the 999 call system today. A full investigation is under way to resolve this as quickly as possible.
“BT’s back-up system for emergency calls is running and members of the public with genuine emergencies should continue to call 999 or 112 in the normal way.
“You should be able to connect when calling 999 or 112, but if you still have difficulties connecting you may contact 101 for police and fire and rescue services, or 111 for health.”
It is not clear how many services have been affected by issues with the back-up system.
A spokesperson for HM Coastguard said: ‘Please continue to call 999 to contact the Coastguard in an emergency. If you are unable to contact the Coastguard on 999 in an emergency, please call 101 (111 for medical emergencies). Please only call 999 in an emergency.’
Problems with the service, which is managed by BT, were first reported at around 8.30am on Sunday and people were told to call 101 in an emergency for police and fire, or 111 in a medical emergency.
Several police forces and fire and ambulance services said they were facing issues and said BT had reported a ‘system failure’.
A Government spokesperson said: ‘We are aware of a technical issue with the 999 call system today. A full investigation is under way to resolve this as quickly as possible.
‘You should be able to connect when calling 999 or 112, but if you still have difficulties connecting you may contact 101 for police and fire and rescue services, or 111 for health.’
Met Police was the first to post on Twitter at 8.20am this morning: ‘Due to a technical fault that is impacting a number of police forces, many 999 calls are not connecting.
‘Until further notice, please call 101 in an emergency. Please ONLY call in an emergency and please wait until later to make any 101 non-emergency calls.’
This was a national issue and other police forces have issued warnings.
Other police forces followed suit, with Wiltshire Police tweeting: ‘BT have reported a system failure in diverting 999 calls. If you need to get hold of us & can’t get through on 999 please call 101.
‘We’re assured that they’re working to get this fault resolved as soon as possible. We will update you as soon as we can.’
Greater Manchester Police said BT had advised ‘a number of forces’ about the issues with the 999 line and added: ‘If your call is an emergency, please persevere with waiting for them to connect you.’
Warwickshire Police urged people to only call if it is an emergency to ‘keep their phonelines clear’.
At 9.08am, Wiltshire Police posted that BT had restored the 999 line and asked people to ‘please call the usual number in emergencies’ as well as thanking people for their patience.
Other police forces followed suit with their own responses saying the 999 issue had been resolved and the lines restored around 9.40am.
Norfolk County Council has been approached for comment by MailOnline.
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