Call charge for 101, Police non-emergency.

[classic33]

Very unlikely as 112 or the emergency services is part of the GSM standard and is used throughout the world.

Works from a UK landline as well.

 

[Tin Pot]

I actually have some sympathy for them, especially when you consider some of the calls they do have to deal with.

Like the time I called the police to tell them the police station I was standing in had no one at reception or whatever it’s called.

Stood there for half an hour.

Phoned them, the answering officer simply did not believe me. So the crime I had just been a victim of never got reported.

 

[Slick]

Like the time I called the police to tell them the police station I was standing in had no one at reception or whatever it’s called.

Stood there for half an hour.

Phoned them, the answering officer simply did not believe me. So the crime I had just been a victim of never got reported.

Sorry to hear that, not nice. I'm assuming it was very low level when you let it go so easily?

 

[Tin Pot]

Sorry to hear that, not nice. I'm assuming it was very low level when you let it go so easily?

No, now you mention it, it was humiliating. Once I got over the outrage I was too embarrassed to talk about it again. About fifteen years ago so I assume any permanent harm would have surfaced by now.

 

[mybike]

Alas, not lived in Scotland for a while now, so wouldn't know first hand.

Following my second elbow operation in 2010 I was packed off to the control room for a spell while the titanium healed over. I spent a while dealing with 101 calls. Many were people with genuine problems that needed help, but many more were people of, shall we say, questionable judgememt, who should never call the feds in the first place.

The proliferation of mobile phones in the late nineties meant anyone where could call the dibble any time, and millions of them do, and the Emergency Services have never developed an effective strategy for dealing with it, and for 2 decades they've struggled.

I comparison, 999 calls and dispatch were a doddle, particularly dispatch. I guess it helped that as a copper I knew the ground, the individual bobbies, and the law where the regular controllers didn't, and the difference was marked. But still, they'd rather save money and pay a civvy to do it than pay a bit more to have someone who actually knows what they're doing.

Once upon a time a call to the GPO about a problem with your phone used to go to an engineer on the test desk at the local exchange.

 

[mjr]

Very unlikely as 112 for the emergency services is part of the GSM standard and is used throughout the world.

I don't care. We voted to leave it. Stop moaning and accept it.

 

[Lozz360]

I don't care. We voted to leave it. Stop moaning and accept it.

Leave what? The GSM standard or the world?

 

[classic33]

Leave what? The GSM standard or the world?

Never voted for either!

 

[Drago]

I voted to remain in GSM.

 

[classic33]

I voted to remain in GSM.

Givvus Some More?

 

[Drago]

German Sado Masochists. I like the whole lederhosen thing.

 

[Tim Hall]

German Sado Masochists. I like the whole lederhosen thing.

I prefer their workwear. They used to have a song about it - German German Overalls.

 

[Drago]

From 101 to lederhosen and the Nazzy national anthem in a mere 3 pages.

 

[Ian016]

The national 101 number replaces numerous premium rate 0845 numbers that used to cost up to 41p per minute. 101 covers England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It does not cover CI or IoM.

The Home Office declined to fully fund the 101 telephone service from taxation, hence calls to 101 cost 15p per call on landlines and on mobiles. The revenue goes to Cable and Wireless (the business arm of Vodafone) who run the system on behalf of the police. The police also pay them several pence per minute for each incoming call.

Calls to 101 from BT payphones are free of charge. This is because the minimum charge for a chargeable call made from a BT payphone is 60p (which pays for 30 minutes to any 01, 02 or 03 number, and then 10p per 15 minutes thereafter) and BT decided it would be too costly to modify every call box to charge 15p for calls to 101.

Every police force is required to advertise an ordinary 01, 02 or 03 number alongside 101. There's a list here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20171002180022/https://www.police.uk/contact/#alternative-numbers
Calls to these numbers count towards inclusive allowances on landlines and mobiles. In these cases, the caller pays no charges for individual calls.

However, for those who do not have inclusive calls, calls to 01, 02 and 03 numbers cost up to 15p per minute from landlines or up to 58p per minute from mobiles. In these cases, it is far cheaper to call 101 where the charge is 15p per call, irrespective of call duration.