Police Scotland’s controversial new 999 call centre was under fresh attack last night after the “confused” handling of a crash at a north-east accident black spot.
Angry drivers who witnessed the incident at the Charleston flyover contacted the Press and Journal to raise their concerns after claiming the controllers in Dundee “did not have a clue” where it was.
It happened just days after the police’s operators were centralised and moved away from Aberdeen.
But last night Police Scotland issued a statement claiming they had “thoroughly reviewed all of the calls” in relation with this accident and said they were “satisfied they were handled appropriately”.
The outrage came on the day it emerged almost 200 notable incidents were recorded at police call centres in the last year.
Out of those 25% were because the incorrect address had been assigned.
At least three 999 calls were made to the Dundee centre yesterday morning to report a van which had overturned at around 5.45am between the Wellington Road slip road and the Charleston Flyover.
The crash, which did not result in any serious injuries, had taken place on the northbound carriageway while it was foggy and a number of motorists were concerned fellow drivers may not see the vehicle had upturned.
One man, who did not want to be named, said the weather conditions were making it difficult to see and as he was passing by he noticed a number of “near misses” with the van.
As there was no sign of any emergency vehicles at the scene he called 999 to report the incident, however he said that the woman on the other line “didn’t have a clue” where it was.
He said: “They (the control room) didn’t have a clue where it was or where I was talking about.
“There were other people who stopped and were phoning and getting the same problem.
“They were confused when I told them and they wanted to know exactly where it was.
“I was concerned because other vehicles were close to hitting the van. When you’re in a panic and the people supposed to be helping you are confused it’s a bit unnerving.”
Another witness said: “They didn’t seem to know that the location was in Aberdeen. I was telling them where we were and they didn’t even seem to know the area we were in and then to pinpoint from there it’s even more difficult.
“I felt I had to go through it three or four times before they understood.”
Last night North-east Labour MSP Lewis Macdonald said: “This shows what the problem is and I know the call handlers will have been doing their level best to deal with the incident.
“But the people dealing with the call will have little or no local knowledge and things that are obvious to officers and police staff based in and around Aberdeen will simply not be known to people who have never visited the area.
“In this case the consequences were not sever
“That is the kind of situation where an immediate response could in other situations safe lives and certainly avoid further accidents.”
Last night Assistant Chief Constable, John Hawkins, said the confusion had arose after the handlers received “inaccurate information” about the crash
He said: “Call handlers are specifically trained to question and confirm with callers their specific locations. We have thoroughly reviewed all of the calls made to Police Scotland in connection with this incident and we are satisfied that they were handled appropriately.
“The initial call regarding the RTC in question provided incomplete and inaccurate information. However officers were dispatched immediately based on the information provided to get to the incident as quickly as possible.
“It was established quickly that the location provided was not correct and the caller was subsequently re-contacted and officers were provided with further correct information about where the incident was.
“Subsequent callers were dealt with in an entirely appropriate manner and at no point did the call handlers say they did not know the location being referred to. By this point officers had already established the correct location and were on route.”
