A canny Scottish copper has sugegsted a premium rate charge for 999 calls and walked into a storm of potest. Whether or not it would deter idiots but at the same time prevent genuine calls is a moot point. Personally I don't imagine somebody would skimp on 50p if they had a real emergency. How many times a week does one dial 999 ??? I run a mobile homewatch scheme and even then I probably only resort to it half a dozen times a year .
Because the premium rate idea is so controversial we should instead levy a fixed penalty on people abusing the system , say £10 .With the exception of a call box you can trace the phone oweer quite easily. It is so simple it's brilliant.....
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What about PAYG?
My contract phone was PAYG in the early days and was given as a present. A lot of them get stolen or passed on as presents. Sadly, I think the whole thing is a can of worms that's best left shut.
We pay to call 101
We are urged to call the new 101 number and incur a (small) fee instead of the free 999 option.
Surely if 999 is under strain the way to encourage more calls to 101 would be to make it free?
101 or 999
People need to understand that 999 is for emergencies where life or property is in immediate threat and 101 for a less pressing matter.The idiots who call to say the cat has a headache or the loo roll is the wrong pattern should be calling neither number . If we had a system of penalty charges but with a right of appeal , like parkign tickets, people would think twice. Of course many calls are from mobiles that may be PAYG but many are not , and I suspect many callers with stupid requests are inebriated. We are not a nation of unlimited resources and people have to get their head round that
Oh, can we please have a system like parking tickets and can I p-l-e-a-s-e be on the appeal panel.
What fun when they turn up to fight their case and then I play their call followed by another one (names bleeped out) of a real emergency. Then ask them again what their emergency was and are they still disputing the fee ... Followed by pointing them in the direction of the penalties payment desk.
Exactly my point
You've got it ! Which real emergency / near emergency will be afraid of appealing and having
their call replayed. And jut imagine the list of examples that will be set out so people know in advance that a loss of loo paper doesn't count.
The more I think about it the better I think the idea is .......honestly