Frontline teamwho respond whenyou dial 999...
A LOOK BEHIND THE SCENES AT WHAT HAPPENS
Crime Reporter T is the most memorable number in the UK and for many dialling 999 is a terrifying call to make.
The emergency services 999 has provided a gateway for members of the public to contact police, fire or ambulance for the last 80 years and today the heart of its operations is in the city of Glasgow.
In a secret location, the Glasgow BT call handlers are the first person anyone who dials 999 will deal with
I– and the frontline workers are preparing for their busiest day of the year. “Hogmanay into New Year’s Day is the busiest time of the year for us,” explained Brian Henderson, who is centre manager for both Glasgow and Dundee Voice Services.
He added: “Hogmanay into New Year’s Day is almost like a military operation.We are primed and we are ready to do a fantastic job.”
The forecast predicted by staff at the Glasgow centre has revealed that a staggering 14,000 calls will be handled by around 50 phone operators over a six hour period between 10pm on Hogmanay and 4am the next day.
In contrast, staff in Glasgow were anticipating to receive 19,000 calls throughout Christmas Day and 21,000 on Boxing Day.
The forecast for the entire country across BT’s six centres is even higher with 87,800 calls expected on Christmas Day and 93,100 calls on Boxing Day.
This gives you a snapshot of the demand placed upon the 999 call handlers, who are also based in Dundee, Nottingham, Liverpool, Ban- gor and Portadown. “We are on the frontline,” said team manager for Glasgow Voice Services Craig Gillan.
“We are the most important people before we put the call through to the emergency service and we need to get it right.
“It is the most terrifying call of people’s life. We are trained to deal with that because a lot of people panic, or shout, but we need to control ourselves.
“Even if Christmas Day is the happiest time of their lives, when something tragic happens, you can’t comprehend how panicked people are to dial 999.”
Brian added: “We don’t need to wait on the news because the caller is calling in. We very quickly find out what is going on and we know when there is a major incident.
“The news on our TV screen backs up what we know to be true by the callers calling on real time as and when anything is happening.”
The centre has handled calls from some of the biggest tragedies to hit the UK this year including the Grenfell Tower fire in June and the Manchester Arena bomb- ing in May. Both incidents made national news headlines and the advisors at the BT centre in Glasgow were among the first to deal with those calling 999.
Brian said: “We have had quite an exceptional year unfortunately in terms tragedies such as the Grenfell Tower fire and the Manchester Arena bombing as well. I think in recent years we have been tested more than ever.”
The number 999 is the world’s oldest emergency service and was launched in London on June 30, 1937. A fire at a London doctor’s surgery in November 1935, that led to the tragic death of five women, resulted in a committee being set up by the government to look at the problem of how telephone operators could identify emergency calls.
The committee proposed that there should be a standard easy-to-remember nationwide number to alert the emergency services. They considered using 707, which corresponded to the letters SOS on the telephone dial and 333, but the technology of the time would not allow these to be used and 999 was chosen as the most practical number.
Glasgow became the second city to benefit from the service in 1938. The Second World War delayed the rollout of the service across the UK, but it was eventually extended to all major towns and cities by 1948.
Hoax or unnecessary calls have been a feature of the