By Sion Morgan
The Western Mail
LONDON — It was launched after a tragedy in which five women were killed in a fire.
And Sunday marks 75 years since the world's oldest emergency call service was launched.
The 999 number is dialled 33,000 times a week in Wales and an average of 597,000 calls every week are handled by BT's emergency service teams around Britain.
Among those are centres in Newport and Bangor, which will celebrate the "diamond anniversary" with a number of planned events tomorrow.
But few know the tragic story from which the famous British service was born.
It was during the aftermath of a disaster on November 10, 1935, which took the lives of five women, that a three digit emergency code was first suggested.
During the vicious fire at a doctor's surgery on London's Wimpole Street, neighbours had tried to telephone the fire brigade but were outraged after being held in a queue by the Welbeck telephone exchange
The rest of the story can be read by clicking here...
The Western Mail
LONDON — It was launched after a tragedy in which five women were killed in a fire.
And Sunday marks 75 years since the world's oldest emergency call service was launched.
The 999 number is dialled 33,000 times a week in Wales and an average of 597,000 calls every week are handled by BT's emergency service teams around Britain.
Among those are centres in Newport and Bangor, which will celebrate the "diamond anniversary" with a number of planned events tomorrow.
But few know the tragic story from which the famous British service was born.
It was during the aftermath of a disaster on November 10, 1935, which took the lives of five women, that a three digit emergency code was first suggested.
During the vicious fire at a doctor's surgery on London's Wimpole Street, neighbours had tried to telephone the fire brigade but were outraged after being held in a queue by the Welbeck telephone exchange
The rest of the story can be read by clicking here...