Disturbing 999 call in Cork

dave1982

This is floating round facebook, guy called 999 for help with man in river Lee.

I don't know the guy so not 100% how true it is but


https://www.facebook.com/steve.ish.1/posts/10152225296369785


For those not on facebook.

Just saw a guy drown....I called emergency services and asked for cork city services, I asked for an ambulance and fire brigade.....when asked my location I said Patrick's bridge city centre, I was then asked where that was, could I perhaps name the closest street....I said Patrick street.....I was then asked was I in Fermoy or Middleton.......I said CORK CITY.....she said she couldn't locate it......at this point the guy had drifted as far as Parnell place (just by the bus station) at which point he had gone under......so I told the way too calm and collected idiot on the phone that we were by cork city bus station on Parnell place.......she responded......nope, can't find that either.......
Somebody on the other side of the river had rang too as we ran into each other on the bridge......his call arrived....but the guy was gone..
The men who arrived were doing the best they could......

But once again, what's the ****in point in having emergency service numbers when they treat you like your ordering a ****in pizza and that time is not a factor on the ****in phone.....

AND....how ****in slow do you have to be to not be able to find PATRICKS ****ING BRIDGE if your the operator for CORK ****IN CITY.........

Finally to the guy who was in the water I'm sorry.

hfallada

This call is the reason was postcodes. A postcode would help emergency services with the fact there is several towns in Ireland with same name across dozens of countries. His many o connell streets in Ireland?

But you have to question why the operator didn't get the help of someone who knew cork

goldie fish

Oddly enough, none of the streets mentioned appear as they are on Google maps. Patricks Bridge is bridge street, and Parnell place, is there, but the river is on Merchants Quay, with no mention of the Bus Depot.

Zillah

hfallada wrote: »

This call is the reason was postcodes. A postcode would help emergency services with the fact there is several towns in Ireland with same name across dozens of countries. His many o connell streets in Ireland?

But you have to question why the operator didn't get the help of someone who knew cork

Ehh...
"I've just seen a man fall into a river! Please send help!"
"Ok, what's the postcode for the river?"
"UY7K99"
"On the way!"

Blackbolt191

That is because there is no Patrick street/bridge in Cork, its St Patricks street/bridge, the calltaker, if they were not a local would have no idea that St Patricks street/bridge is colloquially known as Patrick street/bridge. If they put Patrick street/bridge Cork City into their computer nothing would come up.

I totally agree that what we need is postcodes and that those postcodes need to be clearly visible on each street and roadsign. There is no use in using post codes for emergencies if a non local has no idea what the postcode is.

Thoie

Blackbolt191 wrote: »

That is because there is no Patrick street/bridge in Cork, its St Patricks street/bridge, the calltaker, if they were not a local would have no idea that St Patricks street/bridge is colloquially known as Patrick street/bridge. If they put Patrick street/bridge Cork City into their computer nothing would come up.

I totally agree that what we need is postcodes and that those postcodes need to be clearly visible on each street and roadsign. There is no use in using post codes for emergencies if a non local has no idea what the postcode is.

I've been in the horrible situation of having to make that call, and postcodes won't help. They'd have to have them about every 5 meters for people that don't know the area.

Postcodes (like the UK ones) are great for getting an ambulance to the right house, and you'll know the postcode for your own house. For public areas, they're not that useful.

For example, I zoomed into a particular road in the UK on google maps. The location I picked (at random) was 51.404433,-1.46313

If you do a "what's here" it tells you that area is Hungerford Rd, Kintbury, Hungerford, West Berkshire RG17, UK. If you then just do a map search for RG17, the location is not precise enough for an ambulance. RG17 brings you to a spot about 3 or 4 miles away.

DesertCreat_15

Surely Cork City Bus station would have been self explanatory?

dobman88

DesertCreat_15 wrote: »

Surely Cork City Bus station would have been self explanatory?

Go to google maps and type in "Cork city bus station" and about 20 different options pop up. Not as simple as that

Thoie

Blackbolt191 wrote: »

That is because there is no Patrick street/bridge in Cork, its St Patricks street/bridge, the calltaker, if they were not a local would have no idea that St Patricks street/bridge is colloquially known as Patrick street/bridge. If they put Patrick street/bridge Cork City into their computer nothing would come up.

In fairness, if any Irish person told me a street was called anything like Patrick's or Joseph's or any first name, and I couldn't find it, I'd look for St Patrick, St Joseph, etc. Generally our roads are surnames or random place/objects (Youghal Road, Cork Road, Pinemeadowcopse Street), and if they're first names they're usually saints. Same goes for hospitals. If someone told me Fred's in hospital in Jameseseses, Luke's or Pat's, I'd look for a St James', St Luke's or St Patrick's hospital.

DesertCreat_15

dobman88 wrote: »

Go to google maps and type in "Cork city bus station" and about 20 different options pop up. Not as simple as that

How many Bus stations (not stops) has Cork City got? Also in the vicinity of the river?

http://imgur.com/TpLC5HJ

Also, I'm sure ambulance/fire crews would be aware of where the bus station is in Cork City, especially since its pretty much alongside the river!

Think_then_talk

As far as I can recall 999/112 don't need a post code or an address of the caller they use Gps.

dobman88

DesertCreat_15 wrote: »

How many Bus stations (not stops) has Cork City got? Also in the vicinity of the river?

Yes, I agree 100% with you but if you tell some moronic robot in a call centre "cork city bus station" and they get the 20+ suggestions google maps throws up then you get nowhere. One of my best friends drowned in the Lee 3 years ago on his way to a college ball and he was well and truly gone by the time the "emergency services" got there.

Chances are the person making the call was in a panic too but the current system really needs to be clearer. Maybe localised call centres but that costs money :rolleyes:

dobman88

Think_then_talk wrote: »

As far as I can recall 999/112 don't need a post code or an address of the caller they use Gps.

Wrong, 999 is Ireland and UK. 112 is Europe.

Think_then_talk

dobman88 wrote: »

Wrong, 999 is Ireland and UK. 112 is Europe.

http://www.irishexaminerusa.com/mt/2009/05/20/bt_wins_contract_to_operate_ir.html

Here's the link...

Thoie

so I told the way too calm and collected idiot on the phone

The people answering emergency calls are trained to be calm and collected, in order to do their job better. If you rang for an ambulance and said a bus full of people has crashed, you don't want the call taker having a fit of the vapours. Part of their job is to keep everything calm, and try calm you down so that they can gather as much information from you as possible.

Everyone ringing 999 (or 112) is in a panic. If you're on the phone to them, you're watching someone's house burn down, or someone's life is in danger, or there's a crime in progress. Your heart is in your mouth, you're stumbling over your words, and all you want is for someone to come NOW. Their job is to get you coherent enough to give an exact location (at which point they can start dispatching), a description of the problem, and guide you how to help, if feasible.

SpaceTime

Postcodes wouldn't have been any use in that situation. I would expect the operator to be able to identify major land marks in any of the major cities and towns they're covering.

You could find that on Google Maps instantaneously! (just typed in Patrick's Bridge Cork and it located it accurately and instantly)

Regional command centres would make more sense than this idea that you can cover the whole country with a single call centre.

Thoie

dobman88 wrote: »

Wrong, 999 is Ireland and UK. 112 is Europe.

It's been 112 for a billion years (at least 10). 999 was unique to UK and Ireland. It runs in parallel with 112 (the all-Europe number) because, as you've demonstrated nicely, Irish/UK people don't seem to have paid attention to the transition campaign they ran.

I'm not sure if it's true, but I heard there were talks to introduce 911 as a third emergency number here, because so many people are used to watching American TV and hearing "Call 911" that they were trying to use it here. <-- Not true!

Mr Simpson

dobman88 wrote: »

Wrong, 999 is Ireland and UK. 112 is Europe.

Both number get you through to emergency services in Ireland

SpaceTime

Thoie wrote: »

It's been 112 for a billion years (at least 10). 999 was unique to UK and Ireland. It runs in parallel with 112 (the all-Europe number) because, as you've demonstrated nicely, Irish/UK people don't seem to have paid attention to the transition campaign they ran.

I'm not sure if it's true, but I heard there were talks to introduce 911 as a third emergency number here, because so many people are used to watching American TV and hearing "Call 911" that they were trying to use it here.

They can't use 911 as there are local phone numbers starting with 911 XXXX in quite a few areas. It may work on some mobile phones however. Mobiles recognise when 112 (or possibly other emergency numbers like 999 or 000 (Australia) or 08 (Japan)) are dialled. They then send a GSM emergency call message to the network and its connected to the network's 112 service.

911 etc aren't supported by the phone networks outside the US and Canada so, please don't ever publish anything saying they are as it can cause confusion. I've seen a few tourist articles implying that 911 works. It doesn't.

112 is the pan-European emergency number (and it usually works on GSM mobile phones almost anywhere in the world too)

999 is the legacy number for Ireland, the UK (also Poland's ambulance service only). 999 gets used in Hong Kong and Malaysia and a few other spots around the world too mostly where there was a UK influence on the early days of the development of the telecommunications network.

They just keep both old numbers and 112 running in parallel as closing the old number would cause confusion.

112 always works and it will even override keylocks on phones and also will allow calls from phones with no SIM card or even try any available network (including ones you're not allowed to roam on). The phone will just grab any available network with a strong signal.

So it's a pretty useful number!

....

If that account of the call is accurate, I think the person needs to immediately speak to ComReg. They should also get on to the Minister for Communications, Pat Rabbitte's office.

Seems Dept of Comms is ultimately responsible for 112 / 999 call answering.

blee23

Shocking altogether

Blackbolt191

Think_then_talk wrote: »

As far as I can recall 999/112 don't need a post code or an address of the caller they use Gps.

Don't I wish, no we don't use gps, most ES vehicles are not equipped for it.

dobman88

Thoie wrote: »

It's been 112 for a billion years (at least 10). 999 was unique to UK and Ireland. It runs in parallel with 112 (the all-Europe number) because, as you've demonstrated nicely, Irish/UK people don't seem to have paid attention to the transition campaign they ran.



I'm not sure if it's true, but I heard there were talks to introduce 911 as a third emergency number here, because so many people are used to watching American TV and hearing "Call 911" that they were trying to use it here. <-- Not true!

Mr Simpson wrote: »

Both number get you through to emergency services in Ireland

I am well aware that 999 and 112 get you through to services in Ireland, my point was that 112 can be used in Europe and 999 is Ireland and UK.

I said "wrong" at the start of my post because they don't use GPS as the post I quoted stated they did.

SpaceTime

Blackbolt191 wrote: »

Don't I wish, no we don't use gps, most ES vehicles are not equipped for it.

That's utterly crazy given the low cost of GPS equipment these days.

Blackbolt191

SpaceTime wrote: »

That's utterly crazy given the low cost of GPS equipment these days.

Oh trust me, speak to any members of the ES about it and you will be preaching to the choir

SpaceTime

dobman88 wrote: »

I am well aware that 999 and 112 get you through to services in Ireland, my point was that 112 can be used in Europe and 999 is Ireland and UK.

I said "wrong" at the start of my post because they don't use GPS as the post I quoted stated they did.

112 is intended to replace a vast array of European countries' emergency numbers, including 999. There was a lot of confusion as every country had its own emergency numbers in the past.

The whole point is 112 just works everywhere in the EU.

999 really shouldn't be the number being advertised so heavily. At this stage most EU countries other than the UK and Ireland prominently advertise 112 on ambulances, fire vechicles etc etc

mathepac

dobman88 wrote: »

Go to google maps and type in "Cork city bus station" and about 20 different options pop up. ...

That's a problem with google maps. It's an even bigger problem if emergency call responders are solely reliant on google maps

mathepac

Blackbolt191 wrote: »

That is because there is no Patrick street/bridge in Cork, its St Patricks street/bridge, the calltaker, if they were not a local would have no idea that St Patricks street/bridge is colloquially known as Patrick street/bridge. If they put Patrick street/bridge Cork City into their computer nothing would come up. ...

Utter nonsense. Any decent search algorithm given the search criteria "Patrick Street+Cork", "Patrick St+Cork","Patrick+Cork" oe even "Bridge+Cork" will produce a list of possible addresses / locations. Any call talker with the least bit of cop-on will guide a caller through a step-by-step process to identify their location as well as helping to calm them down if they are panicked / upset.

dave1982

Sad thing is fire station is maybe 3 minutes away

crazygeryy

Kristopherus wrote: »

Muppet post:mad::mad::mad:

Your dead right.my apologies to all concerned. Posting when drunk is a dumb idea.again apologies.

mitosis

When did this happen? There is nothing on the news about a drowning in Cork.

Zambia

112 is the standard emergency number for all mobile phones.

If your phone is on GSM , which it is, it will work.

Now in light of the call the first step for the call taker is to input it in to a call system. The first dispatch question would be were is the crew needed.

Now chances are the call taker needs to get the location right prior to proceeding to scenario.

In the old days calls would be hand written and placed on job cards but I assume things have progressed.