Call 112 from a Cell Phone

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loringa
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Call 112 from a Cell Phone

Post by loringa »

I have just received this in an e-mail; can anyone verify it?

A bit of useful advice - verified by the Wiltshire Police .
The number does work from a mobile.

This actually happened to someone's daughter. Lauren was 19 yrs old and in college.
This story takes place over the Christmas/New Year's holiday break.

It was the Saturday before New Year and it was about 1.00pm in the afternoon, and Lauren was driving to visit a friend,
when an UNMARKED police car pulled up behind her and put its lights on. Lauren's parents have 4 children (of various ages)
and have always told them never to pull over for an unmarked car on the side of the road , but rather wait until they get to a service station, etc
So Lauren remembered her parents' advice, and telephoned 112 from her mobile phone.
This connected her to the police dispatcher she told the dispatcher that there was an unmarked police car with a flashing blue light on his rooftop behind her and
that she would not pull over right away but wait until she was in a service station or busy area.
The dispatcher checked to see if there was a police car where she was and there wasn't and he told her to keep driving,
remain calm and that he had back-up already on the way.
Ten minutes later 4 police cars surrounded her and the unmarked car behind her.
One policeman went to her side and the others surrounded the car behind.
They pulled the guy from the car and tackled him to the ground...... ..the man was a convicted rapist and wanted for other crimes.
I never knew that bit of advice, but especially for a woman alone in a car, you do not have to pull over for an UNMARKED car.
Apparently police have to respect your right to keep going to a 'safe' place.
You obviously need to make some signals that you acknowledge them I.e., put on your hazard lights) or call 112 like Lauren did.
Too bad the mobile phone companies don't give you this little bit of wonderful information.
So now it's your turn to let your friends know about 112
(112 is an emergency number on your mobile that takes you straight to the police because 999 does not work if you have no signal) .
This is good information that I did not know!

Please pass on to all your friends, especially any females.

As far as I am aware, 112 uses a system called triangulation so they can also pinpoint exactly where you are phoning from. It will also hunt for other networks if yours is down!!
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Re: Call 112 from a Cell Phone

Post by Angela Woodford »

What a story!

And what a calm level-headed girl!

Actually, I have sometimes wondered how to make an emergency call when there is no signal. Will spread the word.

Thank you very much.
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anniexf
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Re: Call 112 from a Cell Phone

Post by anniexf »

loringa wrote:I have just received this in an e-mail; can anyone verify it?
I've googled 112 & found the identical story. Apparently 112 has been used for some years, but no-one told me that when I got my mobile phone! Furthermore, someone from BT said I should keep my landline because you can't get the Emergency Services from a mobile!

Thanks, Loringa, for this very useful piece of info., I'll make sure my daughter knows about it.
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Re: Call 112 from a Cell Phone

Post by Jo »

Sorry to be a broken record, but www.snopes.com suggests that the story of Lauren is probably not true.

The info on Snopes and Hoaxslayer is not clear regarding the availability of 112, but I'd be inclined to trust the BBC website
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4724101.stm.

"This e-mail is incorrect. The 112 number does link people through to 999, but it only works if you have a signal on your mobile phone. If you have no signal bars on your phone, it will not work," a spokesperson from London Transport said."

Apparently the suggested use of 112 did the rounds after the 7/7 bombings in London - an email began circulating claiming that you could use it underground.

So, if it can only be used when you have a signal, I'm not sure why you would use it in preference to 999??
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englishangel
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Re: Call 112 from a Cell Phone

Post by englishangel »

112 is the international emergency number for the police (as long as you have a signal) anywhere in the world. Sometimes if you have a very weak signal an emergency call will go through.

I have recently been to Ireland and Paris with my cheapie Tesco PAYG mobile and both times I was welcomed to the country by text, informed of the cost of a text/call and informed that the emergency number was 112. It is also the number in the US but I don't know if my phone works there as I assumed it wouldn't so didn't even take it.

Your phone can also be triangulated if it is on, you don't even need to make a call.
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Re: Call 112 from a Cell Phone

Post by matthew »

It's sort of true, in a garbled through too many retellings sort of way.

112 is a European standard, so it should connect you to emergency services from any phone in Europe. Europe probably means EU or perhaps EEA for this purpose, but I'm too lazy to look that up.

It's also a GSM standard, so should work from any GSM-compatible phone, anywhere in the world, even if the local emergency number is something different. Landlines are another story. In most of Canada and the United States, the emergency number is 911 and I wouldn't expect 112 to work from a fixed phone.

In some countries, it actually is possible to place an emergency call when you have no coverage -- so long as another network is available to take your call. I don't believe that works in the UK though, and it's not something to rely on.
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Re: Call 112 from a Cell Phone

Post by Jo »

I'm always wary of any advice that mentions "cell phones". That's not what we call mobiles in the UK so it suggests the story has been lifted verbatim from the U.S.

It's also a bit of a giveaway when someone posts any sort of scare story that claims to have taken place in the UK but mentions cell phones (or other Americanisms that aren't common in the UK). That usually means the story has been lifted more or less verbatim, but tweaked to sound as if it took place locally. That tends to suggest a deliberate hoax rather than Chinese whispers, which really p*sses me off. Haven't people got better things to do? :roll:
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loringa
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Re: Call 112 from a Cell Phone

Post by loringa »

Jo wrote:I'm always wary of any advice that mentions "cell phones". That's not what we call mobiles in the UK so it suggests the story has been lifted verbatim from the U.S.
Actually Jo you are mistaken. The title was all my own work; the original was something like 'Now it's getting dark!' As I explained at the beginning this was an e-mail sent to me so it may or may not be based on fact. I posted it to try and find out how much truth there was in it. Obviously I know one can't send any message without some sort of coverage but it would appear that the number is valid, at least that would appear to be the consensus from the other posters. The text refers to mobiles throughout and does not, as far as I can see, contain any Americanisms at all. As for my use of the term 'cell phone' instead of 'mobile' I can only apologise if it confuses or offends. I guess I've just spent too much time with our Trans-Atlantic cousins.
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Re: Call 112 from a Cell Phone

Post by Jo »

loringa wrote:
Jo wrote:I'm always wary of any advice that mentions "cell phones". That's not what we call mobiles in the UK so it suggests the story has been lifted verbatim from the U.S.
Actually Jo you are mistaken. The title was all my own work; the original was something like 'Now it's getting dark!' As I explained at the beginning this was an e-mail sent to me so it may or may not be based on fact. I posted it to try and find out how much truth there was in it. Obviously I know one can't send any message without some sort of coverage but it would appear that the number is valid, at least that would appear to be the consensus from the other posters. The text refers to mobiles throughout and does not, as far as I can see, contain any Americanisms at all. As for my use of the term 'cell phone' instead of 'mobile' I can only apologise if it confuses or offends. I guess I've just spent too much time with our Trans-Atlantic cousins.
Apologies, you are correct that apart from the title your version refers to mobile phones. But when I checked the story on Snopes, it had actually been lifted more-or-less verbatim from the US, where it had allegedly happened to Lauren in 2002 in Virginia (and it did mention "cell phone" thoughout). I don't have any problem with the term "cell phone", or indeed any other Americanisms per se, they are just so often a giveaway in urban legends.

I really wasn't intending to have a go at you, loringa - I realise you posted the original story as a question. But the immediate responses were "thanks for the info" (though annie did google it). I'm sorry if I overreacted but - as longer-serving forumites may confirm - urban legends just press all the wrong buttons for me. :oops: :oops: I guess it's not so bad on a forum, but over the years I have got sick to the back teeth of daft stories being peddled round and clogging up my email inbox, by people who ought to know better, just because someone says "this happened to a friend of a friend" and "please forward this to everyone you know". People attack you with fake scent at petrol stations rendering you unconscious and steal all your belongings. People leave HIV tainted needles sticking in cinema seats just for badness..... people really forward this nonsense on in the belief that it's true. :roll: In hindsight, I suppose I just saw another FOAF (Friend of a Friend) story and wrote it off without perhaps giving it enough credence. Mea culpa.

However, I'm probably being obtuse, but 112 appears just to be an alternative for 999 so I'm still not really sure what it adds??
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Re: Call 112 from a Cell Phone

Post by matthew »

Jo wrote: However, I'm probably being obtuse, but 112 appears just to be an alternative for 999 so I'm still not really sure what it adds??
The benefit of a common emergency number across Europe is that if you have an emergency while travelling in another country, you don't have to waste valuable seconds trying to figure out what the local emergency number is.
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Re: Call 112 from a Cell Phone

Post by englishangel »

"If a man speaks, and there isn't a woman to hear him, is he still wrong?"
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