posted by admin on May 9
At last, there is some common sense prevailing across the continent of Europe!
Rather than wondering what number to call in an emergency when travelling through Europe - nearly all the emergency services have got together and agreed to have just the 1 number instead!
People in the UK have always used 999 for all services, whereas France used to use 18 and Romania was 955! All a bit difficult to remember - but Greece won the title for most confusing!
In Greece it used to be different for each service: you had to dial 100 for the Police, 166 for Ambulance, 199 for a normal Fire but 191 for a Forest Fire! The Coast Guard service was 108 and they even had an Anti-Narcotics emergency service available on 109! Goodness knows how the public coped - let alone the tourists!
So now that’s 27 countries across the continent that all respond to the same 3 digits! Hopefully getting to a lot more emergencies than before!
And many GSM cell phones are now pre-programmed to re-direct you to the correct number at home - and will let you call it even if their is no sim card in your phone or if you dial 999 for example, instead of entering your pin. Although it won’t automatically recognise other country’s emergency numbers - if it is added, your phone can be ’trained’ to recognize ‘112′ as an emergency number if you are abroad in Europe and work in much the same way.
GSM phones will realise that you are trying to call an emergency number and give your call priority over the network - meaning that your cell phone will actually work faster in an emergency situation (like if you were injured during a power cut) than someone else who is just trying to call a friend to tell them how dark it is!
Odd Ones Out:
There are seemingly 2 countries who are still not using the 112 number for any of their services (or are not redirecting from the 112 number to their own emergency numbers) - so if you visit Albania or San Marino, you will need to remember their own numbers - and they both have 3 different numbers for the 3 main services!
However, to just be awkward - Kosovo have recently changed their 112 emergency number to 911 instead! So they are the only country in Europe to use this number - alright for all those visiting Americans I suppose!
Of course, there are still certain services which still have their own specific number, but you can safely call 112 and at least you will get through to an emergency expert who can forward you to the best alternative service rather than leaving you to watch a house burn to the ground!
Happy Holidays!
