Met Police 999 Call System Crashes, Then Quickly Recovers
The Metropolitan Police were plunged into chaos last night when their emergency call system went down, leaving Londoners unable to dial 999 or 101. Thankfully, the outage was short-lived, with services back up just over two hours later.
Emergency Lines Blackout at 9.36pm
The trouble kicked off at around 9:36pm on Tuesday, March 25, knocking out both emergency and non-emergency phone lines. Core lines were restored by 10:28pm, but internal systems took a bit longer to get back online, with full service resuming by 12:05am on Wednesday.
Neighbours to the Rescue as Contingency Plans Kick In
During the blackout, the Met sprang into action, activating contingency protocols. Emergency calls were rerouted to neighbouring police forces, ensuring no cries for help were missed.
“Our well-rehearsed contingency plans were immediately activated and many calls were directed to neighbouring forces during the affected period,” said a Met Police spokesperson. “We have since resumed to a normal service and are working with our service provider to understand the cause of the failure.”
Old Systems in the Spotlight
The Met relies on a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system that is currently being phased out. This outage has sparked fresh concerns about the reliability of the ageing infrastructure and highlighted the urgent need for upgrades.
Despite the glitch, no incidents were missed thanks to the swift response of the Met’s own teams and neighbouring forces. The Met has reassured Londoners that emergency services are now fully operational as investigations into the root cause continue.
