As with many of the stories which we share, one of our followers made us aware of the fact that Hampshire Police had to share a post on its facebook page asking people not to call 999 during a powercut.
Whilst power cuts can be a common occurrence, especially during adverse weather conditions, most people have the presence of mind to refrain from clogging up the 999 system will calls regarding this sort of inconvenience.
But it would appear that some residents in Hampshire thought that the 999 system would be the best point of contact rather than, for example, calling their power suppliers.
The post shared on the Hampshire Constabulary Facebook page said:
“We’re aware of the widespread power cut across Portsmouth and surrounding areas.
“This is being dealt with by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks.
“Please do not contact us to report this power cut; unless it is in relation to an emergency.
“For more information please follow Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks’ Facebook page.”
Followers were stunned that people were calling 999 to report the power cut with Emma Roberts saying:
“Who on earth would ever contact the police about a power cut?!?
“Shocked they have to post this request to not contact them.”
Meanwhile, James Reed said:
“To be honest, I didn’t even know Portsmouth had electricity.”
Leah Cozens also commented:
“Do people not realise that it’s the electricity board to contact in the event of a power cut, not the police? I am shocked. Unbelievable!”
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