Twit? 999 service shuts after owl gets wires crossed
RESIDENTS in Avon and Somerset were told not to ring the police unless it was urgent after an owl flew into power cables and broke the phone system.
The force urged people to call 999 only if they had a genuine emergency yesterday after the bird caused serious problems for its computer and phone systems.
It also told households to avoid using the non-urgent 101 service.
Engineers spent the bank holiday working to rectify the problem, which happened at 3.30am yesterday when the owl flew into a sub-station and took out most of the power at police headquarters in Portishead.
Becky Tipper, centre manager for communications at Avon and Somerset Police, told the BBC that staff were coming in on their day off to ensure calls could still get through.
Neighbouring forces also helped field calls.
The problem was rectified 13 hours later at around 4.15pm. A spokesman said: “We’re pleased to confirm that all systems are now back up and running.”
The spokesman added that concerns had been raised on social media about the owl’s fate.
“We don’t know for sure,” he said. “But we certainly hope our feathered friend escaped without injury and was unaware of the feathers he ruffled, to keep us on our toes today.”