NORTH-EAST politicians fear lives are being put at risk because 999 call handlers lack knowledge of the region.
The Press and Journal has learned that an ambulance service dispatcher did not know where Banff was when the first person on the scene of a fatal accident made an emergency call.
The smash last month on the A98 Fraserburgh-Fochabers route claimed the life of 21-year-old Nicole Clark from Turriff.
A young woman who arrived at the scene dialled 999 – but struggled to get the call handler to understand where the accident was.
The 17-year-old said: “When they picked up I said what had happened and told the operator that it was on the road between Portsoy and Banff near Boyndie ‘Drome.
“They kept asking where’s Banff and what town that was in and I told them that it wasn’t in a town it was in the countryside.
“Eventually they gave up questioning me and dispatched an ambulance which took a lot longer to arrive than it should have.”
Banff and District Aberdeenshire councillor, John Cox, said last night: “It is extremely worrying if emergency call handlers lack basic knowledge about the local area.
“In a situation like this it is vital that emergency services are dispatched as quickly as possible without delay.” A spokesman for the ambulance service defended the handling of the call and said that additional questioning did not delay the response time. He said: “Ambulances are dispatched very quickly to 999 calls and callers are kept on the phone to find out as much information about the incident and offer medical advice where necessary.
“This happens while the ambulance is already on its way and does not cause any delay.”
Meanwhile, Police Scotland said its call handling procedure had not changed since the introduction of the single force earlier this year – a move which in itself prompted concerns about a loss of local knowledge.
Superintendent Philip MacRae, contact, command and control at Police Scotland North, said: “There has been no change in the way 101 or 999 calls are dealt with since the inception of Police Scotland – these calls are still handled in Aberdeen as they were before April 1. We have checked a 999 call to us relating to a fatal accident and the location was clear between the caller and Police Scotland call handler.”
But opposition politicians have urged the Scottish Government to ensure local knowledge was not being lost.
Scottish Conservative chief whip John Lamont said: “It seems call handlers are being caught out when it matters most.
“Not only does this lack of local knowledge risk the safety of a public who need a rapid response, but it causes a great deal of additional anxiety at the moment when the caller needs it least.”
A Scottish Labour spokesman added: “It will be deeply worrying to Scots that in these instances operators who deal with life and death, don’t know where places are.”