'Over 300 calls' could've been missed in Leicester & Rutland during 999 disruption, police boss says
PCC Rupert Matthews has written a letter to the Government over the disruption last month
Last updated 11th Jul 2023
'More than 300' calls to 999 from people in Leicestershire and Rutland could've been missed during a system disruption last month, according to Leicestershire's Police and Crime Commissioner.
'We think it was more than two or three hundred (that were missed). We haven't got the precise figures yet, which is a concern', Police and Crime Commissioner Rupert Matthews said.
'There was a ramping up of calls coming into 101 and emails, so we're reasonably confident that nothing was missed completely - but in a situation, even a delay of two or three minutes can be absolutely crucial.'
On Sunday 25th June there were reports that calls to 999 weren't being connected.
BT confirmed 11,500 calls were unsuccessfully connected and their back-up system had the service back up and running within 90 minutes of the fault.
A letter to Government
PCC Matthews, alongside other police bosses across the country, has written joint letters to the Government and BT voicing serious concern at recent technical faults to the 999 service.
Mr Matthews said: "The public must have confidence that when they need help urgently, it will be available. Incidents such as this are, thankfully, rare, but if they reoccur may undermine that trust.
"The outage and its impact on those callers who couldn't get through is an issue of serious concern and it will take some time to establish exactly how this affected what were potentially life-threatening emergencies. We have asked for a full explanation as to what led to this incident and how the situation was managed as part of our responsibilities to protect the public and serve all victims of crime.
"It is critical that appropriate steps are taken now to prevent this from happening again in the future. Alongside my colleagues across the country, I would like assurances from the Government and BT that no effort is being spared to tighten procedures to reduce any future risks to the service."
BT said: "The level of disruption to the service on Sunday 25 June has never been seen before and we are sincerely sorry for the distress caused. We take our responsibility to the emergency services and the public seriously. On this occasion we fell short of our own high standards on the resilience of the 999 service, and we could have done better on clear and timely communication with the emergency services, Government and Ofcom to keep them informed."
"We have identified the root cause of the initial fault and have put a robust temporary fix in place. The system is stable and running as normal, and we are now testing the permanent fix."
"We are putting in place significant improvements to our systems and processes, and we will fully cooperate with Ofcom’s investigation."