Emergency issues in London.

December 23, 2005 11:03 AM

Emergency help needed in London, who do we call?

The sister-in-law of a good friend is in London, and is apparently in bad shape.

Details are sketchy, but she may need to go to a hospital (and may be unable to walk). If that is okay, then she needs to be taken to the airport, and put on a plane to the United States.

The fact that I've been informed of the situation means that it's reasonably desperate.

We're looking for the name and contact information of any appropriate services, as we have no idea who should be called in London. Cost is not a factor, but timeliness is.

posted by mosch to travel & transportation (26 comments total)

Um, is 999 not appropriate here?
posted by kcm at 11:08 AM on December 23, 2005

I think 999 is the London equiv of 911.
posted by sohcahtoa at 11:08 AM on December 23, 2005

Dude, Google:

London emergency services.

How to use your ambulance service.

Dial 999.

US Embassy, London, American Citizen Services.
posted by nyterrant at 11:10 AM on December 23, 2005

We're not located in London. The person in question is. As such, we can't just dial 999, we need an internationally available number.
posted by mosch at 11:10 AM on December 23, 2005

Call 999 in the UK, that will give her an ambulance. In hospital they will give further information on how to get back to the US.
posted by kudzu at 11:11 AM on December 23, 2005

Dial 999. Once the immediate emergency has been handled you can talk to the American consulate and the airline about evac-ing her back to the US- they may require her to be accompanied or something.
posted by fshgrl at 11:11 AM on December 23, 2005

preview.. sorry!
posted by kudzu at 11:11 AM on December 23, 2005

the american embassy in london
a consular official is available 24 hrs

[44] (20) 7499-9000
posted by subatomiczoo at 11:12 AM on December 23, 2005

The general number for the London Ambulance Service, which handles 999 calls, is 020 7921 5100. One site tells me the number from the US to dial is 011 44 20 7921 5100.
posted by IshmaelGraves at 11:13 AM on December 23, 2005

The international dialing prefix for the UK is 011-44.

Thus, to dial the US Embassy's 24 hour emergency services number from the US: 011-44-207-7499-9000.
posted by nyterrant at 11:13 AM on December 23, 2005

If there is no one in London to dial for you call the US consulate or the nearest police station or something. I don't understand how the people in London could contact you but can't dial 999?
posted by fshgrl at 11:15 AM on December 23, 2005

For the London ambulance, that's 011-44-207-921-5100.
posted by nyterrant at 11:15 AM on December 23, 2005

Thank you all. I believe that appropriate help has been summoned.
posted by mosch at 11:15 AM on December 23, 2005

As a note of hope - my parents called the London Police department a few weeks ago after hearing a weird message on their answering machine that they were sure was my sister in distress. After there was no answer on her phone (it was 2am in London) - they sent a couple of officers to her house to check on her. I don't know that an American police department would have done the same.
If you don't have luck with the numbers provided - let me know and I'll track down what ever number they called.
posted by Wolfie at 11:18 AM on December 23, 2005

Wolfie: "After there was no answer on her phone (it was 2am in London) - they sent a couple of officers to her house to check on her. I don't know that an American police department would have done the same. "

uh, ok.
posted by kcm at 11:24 AM on December 23, 2005

Apparently the only remaining issue is that she's in Kensington Close, and her passport is in Canterbury. Here's to hoping the Embassy can make this problem disappear.
posted by mosch at 11:30 AM on December 23, 2005

Thank you all again, very sincerely. The timing (friday evening on a holiday weekend) rendered my first-line contacts unavailable.
posted by mosch at 11:32 AM on December 23, 2005

The only remaining challenge is finding a courier that can get a passport from Canterbury to Kensington Close, starting the delivery in about two hours.

We're going through web-found results now, but if anybody knows of a reliable service, we'd appreciate a recommendation.

Cost is not an issue.
posted by mosch at 11:48 AM on December 23, 2005

Sometimes I imagine some kind of TV show on Discovery that follows a question on Axme and where it came from and how it was applied.

you could have camera stuff and rescuing sick people in foreign countries and computer questions.

the shear variety would interest me.
posted by Megafly at 11:51 AM on December 23, 2005

I have no help, but I hope everything works out okay, mosch.
posted by dame at 12:02 PM on December 23, 2005

Thanks dame. Assuming a few things go as planned, the unwanted excitement is soon to be over.

We have somebody taking a train to Canterbury to find the passport, and a courier service to deliver it to London.
posted by mosch at 12:10 PM on December 23, 2005

Two resources for future reference:

For U.S. citizens, the best bet is to call the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Consular Services. 1-888-407-4747 or internationally at 202 501-4444.

If you're going to be in an area where you're concerned about medical evacuation or travel a lot, MedEx is apparently quite good at arranging ways out of sticky situations.
posted by jed at 12:57 PM on December 23, 2005

After there was no answer on her phone (it was 2am in London) - they sent a couple of officers to her house to check on her. I don't know that an American police department would have done the same.

OT: Most will. This is called a "[life] safety check". Familiar to relatives of the elderly and mentally ill.
posted by dhartung at 9:37 PM on December 23, 2005

"After there was no answer on her phone (it was 2am in London) - they sent a couple of officers to her house to check on her. I don't know that an American police department would have done the same.

OT: Most will. This is called a "[life] safety check". Familiar to relatives of the elderly and mentally ill."

Don't even have to be elderly or mentally ill. There's a few police blotters around the country that I look at and I see general "welfare check" calls all the time.
posted by drstein at 11:19 PM on December 23, 2005

Good luck mosch and keep us updated!
posted by divabat at 12:05 AM on December 24, 2005

I'm not quite sure why your family in London couldn't just dial 999 - were they incapacitated enough not to be able to summon their own local help?

The UK national health service is free and superb. Your family will be in safe hands.
posted by jonthegeologist at 5:14 AM on December 24, 2005