Contacting the emergency services - 999

Until now Deaf people have had two options if they wanted to call the fire brigade, police, ambulance or coastguard.

They could use TypeTalk (18000) if they were at home and had a textphone (Minicom). Or they could dial 999 on a normal telephone and hope that the operator and emergency services would respond.

The new service is asking for volunteers to register and take part. It looks as if the scheme will require registration, which can be done from a mobile phone or via the internet. Full details of the service can be found at www.emergencysms.org.uk. The SMS number will be 999.

Text messages will be passed to Text Relay (the new name for TypeTalk). They will then pass the message to a BT 999 Advisor (the person who would answer a voice 999 call). The BT Advisor will then contact the appropriate emergency service. The person sending the SMS should receive a text message confirming that help is coming, or asking further questions. If no confirmation message is received (after about two minutes) it could mean the message has not got through, so try again.

The SMS message needs to say: what service, why, where, e.g. ambulance, man unconscious, jct Oxford Street and Regent Street.

Over the past few years there are have been moved toward using SMS (text from a mobile phone) to contact the emergency services. These have often been developed by local police forces. The Hampshire police force was one of the first.

Unfortunately, there were obvious limitations. A Deaf person from outside of Hampshire might be visiting and not know of the service. Or a person from Hampshire may have travelled somewhere else and no longer have access to the service.

It has taken a long time for a national service to be created - but it looks life we are finally there. Register now before there is an emergency!