We can now make 999 calls! (What’s in an address?)
So as of this afternoon, customers, clients, users of VoIP telephony provided by Drogon Systems can now make 999 calls!
Well – Once their installation address has been verified, checked, double-checked, sent-in, sent back again and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters…
I digress, but getting the address right would appear to be crucial to the whole process.
It seems that the Emergency Handling Authority have a very precice idea of what an address is, and it’s not something like “Please Mr. Postie, give it to the Hendersons in the street with the papershop in the town with the big Abbey.” I was quite surprised at the requirements.
For a person they want a “Title”. Is this Mr, Mrs, Ms? No, it’s Sir, Lady, Lord, etc. Then they want the name, and initials must be specified with full-stops, then any honours. You know, OBE, KBE, and so on. (does this mean that titled people get a better class of 999 service? It does make you wonder!) Then the address and how do you specify an address in the UK? Just how many different ways are there? Well, only one according to the EHA and it has 4 parts: Premises, Thoroughfare, Locality and Postcode. These 4 lines of information will exactly specify any address it seems. (Thoroughfare? I ask you. What century are we living in today?)
Businesses? It’s the same in the address department (complete with thoroughfare), the name must be the company name, and there is a separate part for Ltd or plc (and llp) There is also 10 pages of mandatory abbreviations for company names too. If you’re business name is “Wholesale Watchmakers, Weaver and Travel agent”, it should then be “Whsle Wtchmkrs, Weav and Trvl Agt”. I wish I were making this up!
But there you have it, we submit the data, wait for it to be checked and validated, then enable 999 on the clients system and off they go. The validation process takes about a week or less and that’s that!