Mobile phone reception in the Mountains can often be intermittent or non-existent. If you are involved in an incident on the hill and need to call assistance but cannot make voice calls, you may now contact the 999 emergency services using a short messaging service (SMS) text from your mobile phone.
The service was originally set up in 2009 for people who are hard of hearing or who have a speech impediment. The service has been successful in helping identify crime and enabling emergency calls to be made when otherwise contact would have been difficult or impossible for the people involved.
The service will now assist those needing emergency assistance in the hills when mobile reception is poor and there is not enough signal to make a voice call. The benefit is that a text message can be composed and sent in a single operation. You should specify ‘Police-Mountain Rescue’ when sending the text, and include information about your location, nature of the incident and those involved.
You will only be able to use this service if you have registered with emergency SMS first. Register now: don’t wait for an emergency. To register, text the word ‘register’ to 999. You will get a reply – then follow the instructions you are sent. This will only take approx two minutes of your time and could save your life!
More details are available at:
http://www.emergencysms.org.uk/
and details of how to register are available at:
http://www.emergencysms.org.uk/registering_your_mobile_phone.php