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[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-20898555 ]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-20898555[/url]
Tayside officer calls for 999 callers to be charged 50p
Sgt Hamilton suggests callers are charged 50p to report a 'genuine emergency'
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A Tayside Police officer has called for people to be charged to dial 999 in an effort to cut the number of nuisance calls.
David Hamilton, secretary of the Tayside branch of the Scottish Police Federation, has suggested callers pay 50p to report emergencies.
Sgt Hamilton's suggestion was prompted by his experience in the police control room.
The officer's idea was published on the social network twitter.
He posted the message: "Maybe time to make 999 a premium rate number?
"If a genuine emergency you'd spend 50p to report it. Phoneboxes exempt."
Figures from Tayside Police show that in 2009 the force received 4,742 hoax or nuisance calls.
My missus has the "Emergency" on call phone for the vets she works at every week or so. People call and ramble on in the middle of the night until they find out there is an emergency call out then they decide it's not that bad. I want to make the line premium rate just so they can decide quickly.
Everybody firstly think they are having or seeing an emergency, those who genuinely are will call regardless.
aye and how many from genuine addresses ? as opposed to phone boxes......
cant see it helping a huge ammount.
some people genuinely do think what they are calling up about is an emergency - such as the woman in arbroath whos water pipe burst on christmas eve - called Fire brigade as her house was "flooding" - they turned up expecting the river to be well up and a whole bunch of elderly folk needing evac.
turned out it was an emergency because her stair carpet was getting wet.
I would have thought most prank calls come from phone boxes anyway.
Sounds like a good idea but as usual the idiots will find a way round it, probably by calling from a phone box, meanwhile the people who actually need the emergency services, like skint pensioners, won't call as they think can't afford it or think they'll get in trouble for calling.
This is a realy stupid idea.
He has cleary not read Freaconomics
A nursey were fedup with staff being hanging around for late pick ups. So they started charging parents for late pickups. This resulted in more late pick ups.
Once you start charging then people see it as a service. The guilt goes and you end up in the customer is always right predicament.
Ampthill +1
"I've paid 50p so you'd better do as I say and get here pronto!"
Sounds like a good idea but as usual the idiots will find a way round it, probably by calling from a phone box, meanwhile the people who actually need the emergency services, like skint pensioners, won't call as they think can't afford it or think they'll get in trouble for calling.
This.
On the plus site, with a disincentive for reporting crime, reported crime rates will fall so the police can report they're doing a cracking job.
50p's not really a deterrent though, is it?
And that's whats needed. Instead of making everyone pay, why not just execute people found guilty of hoax calls? Or maybe cut their hands off? Or .... even better.... make them spend 3 days with their eyes pinned open, Clockwork Orange style, watching back-to-back Adam Sandler films
It'd soon stop
Interesting but still free on your mobile phone
I believe if you charge or not they would still receive the same amount
of calls and the same type of nuisance calls.
Just another digesting way to monopolise
The problem is, that by putting in place any 'punitive' measures, the people you actually end up putting off calling are the genuinely vulnerable, little old ladies who don't want to be any fuss, but are actually quite ill and really need help.
the tossers who are calling an ambulance because they've pricked their finger, or the police because Waynes new girlfriend Shania said Shaznae was a slag on facebook, are not going to be put off, because they like being the centre of attention too much.
Only real way to deal with them is to tell them when they phone 999 that any such cases can only be reported at the police station front desk, and when they turn up there, give them a twelve page form to fill in triplicate 😈
Just another digesting way to monopolise
Either you ran out of poker chips and started playing board games with bicuits or you meant; "disgusting way to monetise"
Won't work for the reasons given by others, but you can't blame him for wanting to do something. And as a starter for 10 it's not a bad idea.
After seeing Home Alone a few months ago, my 6yo godson has
- phoned 999 because Macaulay Culkin did to get a pizza faster
- blocked the bathroom taps and flooded it because that was the calling card of the 'Wet Bandits'
A nursey were fedup with staff being hanging around for late pick ups. So they started charging parents for late pickups. This resulted in more late pick ups.
Hmmm my son's last nursery did that - they charged so much for late pickups that they were probably happy if they had any.
Could make it worse, could make it better or could start something completely different.
What do the guys & girls on the frontline think?
A lot of the innapropriate callers I go to see think that their 4 day history of coughing, slightly sore ankle, loss of medication belly ache are life threatening emergencies, they'd gladly pay!
NHS Direct filters a lot of stuff out, but we get a lot of innapropriate calls through them, likewise GP's and other HCP's will call ambulances often as they are unable to complete what we'd consider basic observations, but if they don't do "something" the responsibility of the patient rests on them. At the moment, everyone in the UK seems to have a chest infection, my self incluedd. Call the doctor and tell them you are short of breath and have chest pain, and you'll get an ambulance instead of a doctor (the ambulance crew will then refer to to your GP most likely!).
Anyway, in short, pointless idea.
Well it would cut out the ' no credit on my phone and as you are free could you make that call for me when you get here on blue lights' frequent callers.
Other than that 50p ... Well it's hardly a detterent is it?
Hoax callers aren't a problem at all to be honest...it's the inappropriate, and the abusers of the system that needed bringing to task!
Problem is some health care professionals are the worst offenders!
Bruneep as you posted it...what's your opinion ?
[i]A nursey were fedup with staff being hanging around for late pick ups. So they started charging parents for late pickups. This resulted in more late pick ups.[/i]
So they can make money by charging more, supply and demand will help them establish a rate. The children lose, though.
Be good if they could give you your 50p back upon arrival at the emergency location. No emergency, no 50p!
Sounds like a win then - if the staff are going to have to wait around anyway they might as earn from it rather than do it for free. Doesn't matter if it's one kid or 10 surely, you have to have multiple staff there anyway.A nursey were fedup with staff being hanging around for late pick ups. So they started charging parents for late pickups. This resulted in more late pick ups.
Re. the emergency call charge. Sounds like a great idea to me. Bogus/unnecessary calls are a massive strain on the emergency services.
Lol, might work. Or might end up in firemen being used to make change if they are known to carry around a bag of 50p coins.Be good if they could give you your 50p back upon arrival at the emergency location. No emergency, no 50p!
I just don't really understand why they don't just do them for wasting police time - £80 fixed whizzer, or up to 6 months for serious cases!
There should be big consequences for people making Hoax calls. I don't know what the current punishment is, but it
I can pretty much guarantee it not severe enough !
And for the idiots that ring 999 when they have no credit in their phone and they can't get home or whatever, a less severe punishment, but severe enough to put people off (minimum £500 fine, escalating for repeat offenders ?)
Charging people for calling in genuine emergencies just seems to be saying that they have given up trying to stop the idiots, so everyone else has to pay to cover some costs ?
Doesn't he mean 'start at 50p'?
Because if that didn't make a difference then some other fool would suggest that it's because 50p isn't enough, and increase it to £1 etc etc.
Knob.
And for the idiots that ring 999 when they have no credit in their phone and they can't get home or whatever,
I must have missed those stories, linkys? bit of righteous indignation would be just the ticket, I'm grumpy this morning.Well it would cut out the ' no credit on my phone and as you are free could you make that call for me when you get here on blue lights' frequent callers.
I thought they can trace calls (even withheld) to 999? If so then they just need to prosecute those dialling from personal phones, phone boxes will still be an issue with the 50p thing anyway.
If the problem is lack of resources then creating mountains more paperwork is not the answer. Of course, in my ideal world, the solution would be less paperwork, more 2000AD style summary justice.I just don't really understand why they don't just do them for wasting police time - £80 fixed whizzer, or up to 6 months for serious cases!
If the problem is lack of resources then creating mountains more paperwork is not the answer. Of course, in my ideal world, the solution would be less paperwork, more 2000AD style summary justice.
How about at first just letting the police confiscate/stamp on their mobile phones 8)
I thought they can trace calls (even withheld) to 999? If so then they just need to prosecute those dialling from personal phones, phone boxes will still be an issue with the 50p thing anyway.
Can't speak for everywhere but last time I rang 999 before I even spoke to an operator my phone number was repeated back to me (I'm operator with-held rather than choosing to ring them and hiding my number). This was Manchester, and is I presume partly a scare tactic for the time wasters.
Ask your average PC or Paramedic..and they will tell you the real problem is not with HOAX callers - ie people who dial up with the sole intention of sending a crew to something that is a HOAX ie not really happening.
The problem is way way more complex than that - and way beyond the comprehension of anyone who has not worked the frontline with the police/ ambulance service.
I have just worked the entire Christmas period - and could tell you things that have gone on that would literally make the headlines of the national newspapers...on every shift!!
To say I have given my all would be an understatement - I am both mentally and physically exhausted. And it's not the dealing with trauma/ blood/ drunks etc that wears me down - its being used as a social sponge, and picking up the pieces for people.
The UK ambulance service is struggling FACT and it will only ever come in to your thinking...when you actually need one.
Taking your frustration out on the crew when they get there because it's taken an hour to get you an ambulance is just not on.
I think the phone company cutting off the mobile or landline for a month or two has to be the way forward.
And RDL - perhaps the also want your number in case they need to call you back? And Redpath Dorman Long, or something else?
Brack covers it.
And we've not needed to trace calls for at least 10 years, they get it as the call is connected and the address if it's a landline.
So rant over what would I do to sort things out ? Medical view
- Education, education, education...and not sensationilism
- GP's to work 24 hours a day...how on earth do we go from 20 surgeries within a city. To one 'locum' doctor covering an entire region when it gets dark ??? Ludicrous !
- A&E to charge..anything that could have been sorted out elsewhere and earlier..gets a bill,the charging for ambulances is complex and there is never going to be the time/ infrastructure do do this fairly and safely.
- Social services, mental health teams, district nurses, dementia crisis teams - to be available 24 hrs a day.
- Remote call alarm centres ( Peter Kay - Dougie) yeah those that take £30 + a month from the elderly - and in return pass immediately on to the ambulance service...what a business model - genius ! They should have staff that attend. Or better still lets adopt the NZ model where the Ambulance service runs the schemes!
- Drunks are charged at A&E...and transport treatment costs fed back to the police, A&E, Ambos
Any one else ?
I must have missed those stories, linkys? bit of righteous indignation would be just the ticket, I'm grumpy this morning.
I don't have a linky, however I was a police call taker for 3 years. I would expect to get a call like that a couple of times a shift. Saturday night being primetime.
GP's to work 24 hours a day...how on earth do we go from 20 surgeries within a city. To one 'locum' doctor covering an entire region when it gets dark ??? Ludicrous !
They were offered to drop the on call for a very small drop in wages, if your boss was to say to you that you can work 9-5 Mon to Fri for about £2k less per year what would you say?
The scheme brought in to replace it is an absolute farce and has increased out work load more and more.
[i]A&E to charge..[/i]
Yep, another well thought out idea... What'll you do, not treat them? This isn't the 3rd world and/or the USA.
Figures from Tayside Police show that in 2009 the force received 4,742 hoax or nuisance calls.
I'd like to see that broken down by "hoax" and "idiot". A charge might dissuade the hoax callers, but some people will still be hard of thinking like Moist Rug Woman mentioned above and I'd speculate that they make up the bulk of the "nuisance" calls.
SO I'm out drinking, peacefully and sociably getting on with my night when a speeding driver mounts the pavement and crushes me. Do I get the bill for the A&E spell?- Drunks are charged at A&E...and transport treatment costs fed back to the police, A&E, Ambos
edit:
Moist Rug Woman
Fnar!
To be fair, we already bill people in retrospect for ambulance travel - eg car crashes
can see no reason why we couldn't do this in the event of an unnecesarry callout
apart from the aforementioned problem that it would put your little old ladies off calling an ambulance when they really did need it, because they were afraid of getting a big bill.
Like I said... It's complex!
Besides no you would be classed as an RTC
ps it's a forum...discussion... Not likely to happen...just one frontline medics posting on a mtb forum.
Can I ask you a question as you seem to know the answer.
Next time you ( god forbid) require an ambulance for a family member in dire straits...
One arrives but too late... You find out that the 2 local ambulances have been dealing with a couple of drunken teenagers whose parents don't want the responsibility or the danger of vomit staining their newly laid carpets.
Would you have the same 'what a riddiculous suggestion' opinion ?
A
Like I said... It's complex!
[b]
Besides no would be classed as an RTC
[/b]
ps it's a forum...discussion... Not likely to happen...just one frontline medics posting on a mtb forum.
True, but you know what I mean, being drunk doesn't necessarily cause a problem. And if you charge people who've been drinking then you have to charge drug users, and then what about people who've deliberately hurt themselves? And people who've done really stupid things that could be called more dangerous than getting blind drunk, and ended up ill/hurt as a result? And what about those idiots who throw themselves down rocky mountainsides with only a polystyrene hat to protect themselves when they could be safely tucked up in the gym...... 😉
And we do bill for car crashes, but we bill the insurance companies, not individuals.
True, but you know what I mean, being drunk doesn't necessarily cause a problem.
He's talking about drunks, the ones who are intoxicated and some how can't get themselves home or their mates are unable to get them home. No they'd rather leave them and let someone call 999.