# Ringing emergency services abroad



## julesanian (Jan 30, 2018)

I'm just wondering : If a hypothetical , mad-axe man was splintering his way through our van door - what would happen if I rang 112 ? 

What's the chance of the operator speaking English ? 

Do they have dedicated staff , for tourists , that our call could be transferred to ?

In England the system automatically interrogates your mobile's GPS or uses triangulation to determine your location. Do the continentals even have such a sophisticated set up ?

Here's a few phrases that surely should get someone coming ..

French - AU SECOURS AU SECOURS !!
Spanish - MUERTE MUERTE !!

I don't know any more but would welcome any suggestions ..

I suppose I could always set the wife on 'em.


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## QFour (Jan 30, 2018)

One of the biggest problems with the Continent is that they are streets ahead of us when it comes to technology. You may think that they are following behind the Uk but in reality they have far better systems. Using the Internet on the move in the Uk is very hit and miss with large swaths of the country with no reliable service. France and Spain no trouble. I would not worry to much. Even the French now speak English and the Spanish do as well. English seems to be the second language for most Europeans.

If you are involved in an accident someone will call the Emergency Services or just dial 112 and use sign language everyone understands that especially if you shout as well.

..

It would be different in the Uk you would first have to find a spot where you had a phone signal. Then talk to an operator in India who has no idea where you are and then when you eventually get through to the Police you will be told that they are very short staffed and it may be a couple of days before they get round to seeing you.

..

Mayday Mayday Mayday works in most languages.

.


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## chrismilo (Jan 30, 2018)

Be careful ringing emergency services some years ago my van broke into flames on motorway in Belgium 
The one who calls the emergency services has to pay equivalent to £30 if it still applies probably double now


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## jagmanx (Jan 30, 2018)

*Sacre*



chrismilo said:


> Be careful ringing emergency services some years ago my van broke into flames on motorway in Belgium
> The one who calls the emergency services has to pay equivalent to £30 if it still applies probably double now



Bleu


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## iampatman (Jan 30, 2018)

English speaking Spanish police emergency number - 0034902102112

Pat


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## julesanian (Jan 30, 2018)

thanks for your tips, I've done a little bit of hunting and found some things out. There's no charge (now) for using 112 and the operator *will* know your location automatically, which would be useful. 

_How will 112 operators know where I am?

If you're unable to speak properly or don't know exactly where you are, the operator will pass on as much information as possible about your location to the emergency services – either the address of the landline telephone or the location of your mobile phone.
_

FAQs - In an emergency - Your Europe


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## Fazerloz (Jan 30, 2018)

Do the continentals even have such a sophisticated set up ?

They could well struggle to be as sophisticated as Keighley.


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## trevskoda (Jan 30, 2018)

QFour said:


> One of the biggest problems with the Continent is that they are streets ahead of us when it comes to technology. You may think that they are following behind the Uk but in reality they have far better systems. Using the Internet on the move in the Uk is very hit and miss with large swaths of the country with no reliable service. France and Spain no trouble. I would not worry to much. Even the French now speak English and the Spanish do as well. English seems to be the second language for most Europeans.
> 
> If you are involved in an accident someone will call the Emergency Services or just dial 112 and use sign language everyone understands that especially if you shout as well.
> 
> ...



Please explane how one uses sine language down a mobile phone.:lol-053:,no wonder people think we are mad.:scared:


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## Asterix (Jan 30, 2018)

I used 112 a couple of years ago in France, got connected to non English speaker,after about ten minutes finally got one that spoke reasonable English,then another 5 minutes trying to get him to understand where I was. To be fair the cops turned up fairly pronto even tho I was nowhere near a town.


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## QFour (Jan 30, 2018)

trevskoda said:


> Please explane how one uses sing language down a mobile phone.:lol-053:,no wonder people think we are mad.:scared:



Haven't you seen them after an accident. Walking up and down the road waving their hands all over the place and pointing while trying to explain to the girl at the Insurance Company that it could not possibly be their fault.

Guy in a Merc a few months back stuck his nose a bit to far onto a roundabout. The BMW that was coming round the island at the time took a few bits off the front of the Merc and vanished. The guy in the Merc then gets out blocking all the traffic. Then gets back in his car and gets his phone out. Next thing you know he is taking pictures of his car and talking to someone on his phone. Everyone was just sitting there. So I put my hand on the hooter and he walked over. Can't you see I had an accident and I need to talk to my Insurance. So I suggested as his car was drivable that he went and parked out of the way. He was so obnoxious that I didn't give him the BMW's number.


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## BKen2 (Jan 30, 2018)

If you look at this link it gives you an insight how the 112 No. operates certainly here in Spain ...and remember this is reasonably upto date information 2017...Dont start shouting Meurte down the phone better ..Haces Hable Englise....(You Speak English)...the "H" is silent. 

112 Emergency Calls | N332 - Driving In Spain


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## Clunegapyears (Jan 30, 2018)

We called emergency services in Sicily. They did not speak English. We did not speak Italian. They passed us on to somebody else who did not speak English.  Then to somebody else who did also not speak English....  The fourth person did speak some English and suggested that we cross a live motorway to see if the person who had hit the Armco was still alive!  Fortunately the police then arrived, but not through our efforts at being good citizens, and we are able to leave them to it.


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## moonshadow (Jan 30, 2018)

Would a foreigner expect the emergency services in England to speak their language? Download an app that will translate and say it for you, or at least learn to say a few phrases in whatever language of the country you are going to. I could not believe the, I think she was American, woman in the supermarket here in Albufeira who was getting cross with the cashier because she couldn’t understand sufficient English to know what she was saying and then the woman was pulling faces at us in the queue saying how useless the cashier was. Downright rude if you ask me!


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## Clunegapyears (Jan 30, 2018)

moonshadow said:


> Would a foreigner expect the emergency services in England to speak their language? Download an app that will translate and say it for you, or at least learn to say a few phrases in whatever language of the country you are going to. I could not believe the, I think she was American, woman in the supermarket here in Albufeira who was getting cross with the cashier because she couldn’t understand sufficient English to know what she was saying and then the woman was pulling faces at us in the queue saying how useless the cashier was. Downright rude if you ask me!



I agree about learning a few phrases, we do, but we had not anticipated need to to say that a car had hit the Armco at high speed and an ambulance was needed urgently!  I suppose, however, arrogantly, we expected to be put onto an English speaker more quickly as English is the International language.   

The OP asked about whether English would be spoken if he rang emergency services ... in our Italian experience, it wasn’t.


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## QFour (Jan 30, 2018)

moonshadow said:


> Would a foreigner expect the emergency services in England to speak their language? Download an app that will translate and say it for you, or at least learn to say a few phrases in whatever language of the country you are going to. I could not believe the, I think she was American, woman in the supermarket here in Albufeira who was getting cross with the cashier because she couldn’t understand sufficient English to know what she was saying and then the woman was pulling faces at us in the queue saying how useless the cashier was. Downright rude if you ask me!



If they are in LONDON and they dial 999 they have a translation service with 150 different languages.

When you think we have

Polish 546,000 or 1.0%
Punjabi 273,000 or 0.5%
Urdu 269,000 or 0.5%
Bengali (with Sylheti and Chatgaya) 221,000 or 0.4%
Gujarati 213,000 or 0.4%
Arabic 159,000 or 0.3%
French 147,000 or 0.3%
Chinese 141,000 or 0.3%
Portuguese 133,000 or 0.2%
Spanish 120,000 or 0.2%
Tamil 101,000 or 0.2%
Turkish 99,000 or 0.2%
Italian 92,000 or 0.2%
Somali 86,000 or 0.2%
Lithuanian 85,000 or 0.2%
German 77,000 or 0.1%
Persian 76,000 or 0.1%
Philippine languages (with Tagalog and Cebuano) 70,000 or 0.1%
Romanian 68,000 or 0.1%

Living in the Uk. 

All our Emergency Systems should be multi lingual.


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## barryd (Jan 30, 2018)

If your going to have a mad axe Man calling try and ensure your in Germany.  We had a mad axe man in Germany in the heart of the Black Forest and ended up calling 112.  They spoke perfect English but the rozzers took a while to turn up on the Stellplatz. Full story here. http://forums.motorhomefacts.com/131-germany-touring/86698-stellplatz-terror.html


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## Clunegapyears (Jan 31, 2018)

barryd said:


> If your going to have a mad axe Man calling try and ensure your in Germany.  We had a mad axe man in Germany in the heart of the Black Forest and ended up calling 112.  They spoke perfect English but the rozzers took a while to turn up on the Stellplatz. Full story here. http://forums.motorhomefacts.com/131-germany-touring/86698-stellplatz-terror.html



Terrifying.


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## trevskoda (Jan 31, 2018)

barryd said:


> If your going to have a mad axe Man calling try and ensure your in Germany.  We had a mad axe man in Germany in the heart of the Black Forest and ended up calling 112.  They spoke perfect English but the rozzers took a while to turn up on the Stellplatz. Full story here. http://forums.motorhomefacts.com/131-germany-touring/86698-stellplatz-terror.html



Bread knife springs to mind.


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## jagmanx (Jan 31, 2018)

*But only to give a bit of "pain"*



trevskoda said:


> Bread knife springs to mind.



If you are attacked by the mad bread delivery van !.

A stale baguette might substitute for a truncheon

Some smelly french cheese might stop someone dead in their tracks.

But on the serious side almost any spray will slow down an assailant 
small self-defense sprays should be good as then I suspect you cannot be accused of assault


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## moonshadow (Jan 31, 2018)

QFour said:


> If they are in LONDON and they dial 999 they have a translation service with 150 different languages.
> 
> When you think we have
> 
> ...


So that's where our taxes go. Sorry, but if you live in a country you should have the courtesy to try and speak the language however badly.


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