Emergency Cards EN-GB

United Kingdom

Emergency numbers

Reviewed

Use at your own risk. For education and research only, not medical advice. Check the numbers and rules for the country you are in. They change. Before you rely on these cards, have a medical professional or a fire safety specialist review them. Disclaimer

Do this first

Dial 999. The call is free from any phone, including a locked one. 112 reaches the same operators.

999 connects you to police, fire, ambulance and coastguard anywhere in the United Kingdom. The call handler decides which service to send, so you do not need to know which one you need. For an urgent medical problem that is not life-threatening, use NHS 111.

Step by step

  1. Say where you are first. Give the street and number, the town, a landmark or the location your phone shows.
  2. Say what happened in one sentence, such as a fall, a fire, a crash or chest pain.
  3. Say how many people are hurt, and whether anyone is unconscious or not breathing.
  4. Give your phone number. They will use it to call back if the line drops.
  5. Stay on the line. The call handler will tell you when the call is over.
  6. Follow their instructions exactly, including starting chest compressions if they tell you to.
  7. Send someone out to the street to wave the ambulance in, and unlock any doors and gates.

Never do this

  • Do not hang up until the call handler says you can.
  • Do not use 999 for problems that can wait. NHS 111 gives urgent medical advice, and 101 is for non-emergency police matters.
  • Do not assume someone else has already called. Ask out loud and make sure.

Call emergency services if

  • Someone is unconscious, breathing abnormally or not breathing at all.
  • Chest pain, sudden weakness on one side, sudden confusion or trouble speaking.
  • Bleeding that soaks through dressings, a serious fall, a fire or a crash.

Common questions

Does 999 work with no credit or no signal from my own network?

Yes. 999 and 112 connect from a locked phone with no credit, and the call goes through whichever network has a signal, yours or another. If you cannot speak safely, stay on the line and press 55 when prompted on a mobile. This is called the Silent Solution.

What if I cannot hear or speak?

Register for emergencySMS in advance. Text the word register to 999 and follow the reply. After that you can reach 999 by text message anywhere in the UK.

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Sources and standards

Use at your own risk. For education and research only, not medical advice. Check the numbers and rules for the country you are in. They change. Before you rely on these cards, have a medical professional or a fire safety specialist review them.