In the space of about 6 weeks i've had to do it 3 times....twice for fights at the pub i frequent, well did....and again last night when a friend collapsed.

The fighty ones didn't really bother me as nobody was in mortal danger but things had just escalated beyond the control of the pub staff (don't ask why they never dialled the 9's themselves...combination of not wanting to lose face and incompetance basically)

Anyway last night was a first, having to call an ambulance for a mate after they just collapsed and hit the deck. Turned out it was nothing sinsister and they didn't stop breathing or anything but still really shook me up! It's true what they say about first aid and it never going away, even though it was just basic stuff like checking breathing, recovery position and keeping calm etc.

So what are peoples experiences here with having to bang in the three 9's? anybody got through life never having to do it?

Footnote- Friend fine now and the paramedics were brilliant, as was the person in the control room who took th call.

the last time i tried (about 10pm on a saturday night), it took 4 attempts to get through to police control, after which i gave up.

they called me back 5 minutes later asking why i had abandoned my call.

i was calling to report a suspected drink-driver who was swerving around in front of me along a country road and then through town with no headlights on.

very frustrating as i reached a point where i couldn't follow the car any further, but i do understand that there are only so many people who can answer a phone at any one time.

aside from that, i also called them a month or two back after i had received a call from my wife-to-be who was trapped in her car injured (with unborn baby) immediately someone had ploughed into the back of her at 50mph. the person at the other end of the phone was fantastic, calming me down, telling me that all the emergency services were already on their way and that if i was going to head out to the scene of the accident, i must be very sure that i travel safely as the services were already dealing with one accident. (she's okay now btw)

Had to do it in January when we got burgled. Rang back 5 minutes later when we heard banging in the loft thinking they where still up there. Was told there would be someone with us in 5 minutes. Over an hour they decided to eventually turn up. Couple of days later and my Xbox was still showing as being online. Informed the fuzz and was told to keep tracking it and speak to Microsoft to get the ip address, as they couldn't be bothered.

Swimming pool or outdoors?

OP, I'm guessing the reason why the pub (s) didn't ring 999 themselves is because it counts as a black mark against them?

As to your question, I've dialled treble 9 a few times, mostly when at work, but once due to a skip fire that was very close to a house (flames were licking window frames)

Called it a few times.

Last time was last year - I mentioned it on here - when my elderly mum was found lying on the floor. She may have been there for days.

Ambulance call taker was an absolute fool. Refused to send an ambulance out, argued with me, all sorts. I escalated it to someone more senior and got a reluctant response soem time later with as they said "No blue light" and two surly as fk paramedics.

Took mum to hospital. Paramedics tried to prevent me going into A and E with her. I was completly calm just quiety angry bear in mind this trip was beginning to be routine with her as she had fallen before. I knew A and E staff members on first name terms after the last couple of visits. Paramedics politely told to fk off as they didn't run A and E.

Complaint to Ambulance service. I requested the tapes pulled and a transcript. Got all sorts of people involved and caused a huge fuss. Turns out the fool of a call taker pressed the wrong option on his triage computer system and that sent him down a don't send an ambulance route. Tape showed he would not listen to reason and my requst for him to reconsider and send an ambulance. "Don't tell me how to do my job sir" he kept saying when I questioned his request to lift my mum off the floor desptie the fact that she may have had broken bones and was not making much sense. This fool wasted valuable time (Hours) and increased my mother's suffering.

Several months later.

Ambulance service gave me an unreseved apology and the call taker was bked. I wanted him sacked for his stupidity but didn't take it further as my mother by this time had become ill again. Her fall may have been the early stage of a heart problem.

On the other hand, I had to call Cumbria Police last year after a very near miss with a 4 x 4 and trailer on the A69. It involed me and a number of other cars, the 4x4 going into a ditch then somehow getting out and leaving the scene. They were fantastic, utterly brilliant. I even got a follow up call the next day to check we were OK and to see if there was any more info we could give them about the 4 x 4.

My tip for 999 call. Be clear and concise, cooperate and try to give as much information as you can.

If the call taker is being a prat. Just lie. Tell them the person isn't breathing or something. Refuse to help, chuck the ball in their court. If I had done that i would saved my mum a 3 hour wait for an ambulance.

Listening to the CD the ambulance service sent me, I am amazed how I kept my cool with this . I said fk only once which is amazing for me. I said it not to the call taker, but when I was on hold. Bear that in mind. If you are on hold, what you say is still recorded.

A month or two after that 999 call to the ambulance, just before last Christmas. My mother died.

Twice...

The first time was when a car mounted a grass verge and flipped near my house, wedging itself between a lamppost and a tree! The guy must have been doing 80+ in a 40, he then attempted to leg it!

The second time I was driving home quite late from the cinema and noticed a car on someone's front drive that was on fire!

Both times the emergency services arrived bloody quickly! No complaints here!

Once called from the car when somebody was tring to change a tyre in the outside lane of the M11.

That was one of the stupidest things I have ever seen.

My sister in law fell off the sea wall nearby.
A passer by, along with others rushed to her help, and he dialled 999.
One of the first questions "what's the postcode?" He had to explain that not being local he wouldn't know what it was, and doubted that there actually was one for their location. The operator responded "I do need one, so I know which units to send". One of the locals present had to give theirs, so they knew how to find the sea wall at Dawlish
I'd like to think that lessons were learned from this incident?

Done it once. Then had to administer CPR while on the phone to the operator. Terrifying experience.

I had to do it a couple of months ago, we came home from a night out to find next doors smoke alarm going off and they were out, being semi detached this was something of a concern. I tried all sorts of things, local police station, 101, local fire station, all came back with no answer or not ineterested and suggested 999 fire brigade, which is what I did.

So, there we were, 11.30pm, with a fire appliance flashing like a rave joint parked in the middle of the street for a smoke detector.

The crew were great though, got ladders out and checked all of the windows before declaring what we all knew, it was a false alarm, and said they get it all the time, but they would rather have that, than people ignoring them.