Motorway Police - phone number?

[Frimley111R]

Always wondered this but if you are on the motorway and you wnat to report something, ranging from maniacs to debris on the carriageway what number do you call to get a BIB involved? Or isn't there a number?

[JackHolroyde]

errrrr.
999?

Debris and maniacs in the road is an emergency...

[DucatiGary]

remember to ask your passenger to call

[tigger1]

DucatiGary said:

remember to ask your passenger to call

Why!? There's a specific exemption from the mobile phone rules for using your phone in an emergency. Calling 999 will fall under that.

[bigdods]

but be prepared to be told to get off the line and stop wasting police time, happened to me a few times, I dont bother calling anything in now.

[davegt4]

if it doesnt involve law enforcement, i.e debris or unlit vehicles you can contact the highways agency on 08457 50 40 30

[Sgt Bilko]

And if you can't remember that number, and it is debris, just stop at the next orange box.

[Vaux]

Sgt Bilko said:

And if you can't remember that number, and it is debris, just stop at the next orange box.

Edited for accuracy:
"the next working orange box."

Dial 999 or 112 from mobile too. Make sure you know:
a) What motorway you are on.
b) Where you are - ideally get the numbers off the white/blue marker post (every 100m) or off the blue sign (every 500m on a lot of motorways now)

[FishFace]

bigdods said:

but be prepared to be told to get off the line and stop wasting police time, happened to me a few times, I dont bother calling anything in now.

yeah right, that sounds like call handler training to me

[bigdods]

Well i can only tell you the facts.....

call 1: travelling round the M25 theres a sodding great alsatian dog trotting down the middle lane against the traffic flow. I managed to avoid it but you can imagine there was a fair bit of swerving going on. Response from 999 call - nothing we can do sir, this line is for emergencies only.
I pointed out that there will be an emergency pretty soon ' not police business sir, you do understand it is an offence to dial 999 when there is no emergency '... then she hung up on me .

call 2: following a car on the M40 swerving left and right going from inside to outside and back , then driving some distance with a wheel either side of the lane marker between lane 1 and 2, then more swerving etc. Called 999 and the call handler asked me what I expected them to do about it, this isnt an emergency sir (see the similarity between the 2 calls there!)


Now to be fair these were about 5 years ago, so I guess things may have improved by now.

[7db]

Risk to life or property? Criminals still on scene? 999

[Gafferjim]

Stop at the first motorway emergency telephone (orange phone box) we will answer you within 20 secs normally, we then know exactly where the problem is, and can send the apropriate response.(we have direct lines to all emergency services) We can set signals in the correct place.
This goes for any emergency on the motorway, as if you call 999 on your mobile, first of all it goes to your mobile service provider, who then has to guess (from the discription of the location) which police force to contact. (There is one area that we cover, that within 6 miles, it could be any one of 3 different police forces!) Then you get put in touch with a police 999 call taker, who knows nothing about motorways, doesn't believe that debris, or dogs walking in the c/way is an emergency, so fires you off, or could actually make a job out for it, which then has to be passed to their motorway desk, who then either rings the correct police force with it, or calls us to ask for signals and a HATO.
So! leave the mobile in your pocket, stop at the Emergency phone, pass the details, and know that something will get done.
If it's an enforcement offence, we know which police force area the vehicle is in, or will be in shortly, and can contact them to look out for it. This does work, believe me!
If you use the Highways Agency line that Dave gt4 mentioned, the message will get through to us, but usually a fair amount of time has passed before it does.

Edited by Gafferjim on Wednesday 6th February 16:55

[joewilliams]

I've called in for a guy walking in the middle of the carriageway challenging vehicles to run him over, and for a large bit of debris on a dual carriageway.

I got no abuse from the operator - they just took the details and passed it on.

If you feel it's dangerous, call it in.

[Swoxy]

Suitcase on the M6. Called 999. They said they knew about it but thanks for calling.

Edited by Swoxy on Wednesday 6th February 20:29

[Eliminator]

I've called in a couple of times from orange boxes - good service every time

1. Children playing chicken on the M57
2. Truck on fire - fire in the rear, driver hapily ignoring tooting / flashing
3. Debris in lane 3 (bed) which became firewood whilst I was on the 'phone

[handpaper]

Had one last month - an acrow (!), M4, L3 Westbound. I called 999 on the mobile and gave them the number on the next roadside phone. I don't know how quickly it was followed up, but I was taken seriously.

[Parrot of Doom]

999 whenever I've seen something dodgy. They've always taken it very seriously. Once the HATO guys phoned me back to confirm the location (huge tyre debris in lane 3).

[BertBert]

Gafferjim said:

Stop at the first motorway emergency telephone (orange phone box) we will answer you within 20 secs normally, we then know exactly where the problem is, and can send the apropriate response.(we have direct lines to all emergency services) We can set signals in the correct place.
This goes for any emergency on the motorway, as if you call 999 on your mobile, first of all it goes to your mobile service provider, who then has to guess (from the discription of the location) which police force to contact. (There is one area that we cover, that within 6 miles, it could be any one of 3 different police forces!) Then you get put in touch with a police 999 call taker, who knows nothing about motorways, doesn't believe that debris, or dogs walking in the c/way is an emergency, so fires you off, or could actually make a job out for it, which then has to be passed to their motorway desk, who then either rings the correct police force with it, or calls us to ask for signals and a HATO.
So! leave the mobile in your pocket, stop at the Emergency phone, pass the details, and know that something will get done.
If it's an enforcement offence, we know which police force area the vehicle is in, or will be in shortly, and can contact them to look out for it. This does work, believe me!
If you use the Highways Agency line that Dave gt4 mentioned, the message will get through to us, but usually a fair amount of time has passed before it does.

Edited by Gafferjim on Wednesday 6th February 16:55

No chance, stopping on the hard shoulder when you dont need to is madness. Moby for me every time.

Bert

[twister]

Gafferjim said:

if you call 999 on your mobile, first of all it goes to your mobile service provider, who then has to guess (from the discription of the location) which police force to contact. (There is one area that we cover, that within 6 miles, it could be any one of 3 different police forces!) Then you get put in touch with a police 999 call taker

When I called 999 on my mobile about a year ago, the call went exactly the same way as when I've called from a landline - first operator just asked what service I required and then I was put straight through, no questions asked about my location until I was speaking to the police operator.

And as noted by the previous poster, stopping on the HS would be the absolute last-resort option for me too - if I've got a healthy signal/battery/grasp of my whereabouts, I'll be calling it in from the safety of the main carriageway.