It was an extremely busy weekend for us and forces across the country. We’re expecting more of the same this weekend. 

On Saturday, more than 15% of the calls we received were silent 999 calls. Most of these were more than likely accidental dials. 

Each time we take a silent 999 call, a call handler must spend around four minutes carrying out intelligence checks on the phone number to make sure there is nobody in need of our help. This means roughly four hours of call handlers' time was spent carrying out these checks. When demand is high this makes a big difference.

We know accidents happen. If you accidentally call 999, please stay on the line so we can check you’re ok. It’s much quicker and means our call handlers can quickly get back to helping people in need. Thank you.