Problems with Ambulance 999 wanting post codes
- Thread starter Bob Mehew
- Start date
We, in a well known village, are only partially postcode covered, and the width restrictions and v' steep gradients. offer a challenge to Ambulances, delivery drivers and police alike all fail miserably and either give up or mooch on foot knocking doors.
Some of which share postcodes with mine/ caves.
Do sat navs not recognize reality?, or just their virtual version.Even the little orange man on google cant manage our hill
O.G.
Some of which share postcodes with mine/ caves.
Do sat navs not recognize reality?, or just their virtual version.Even the little orange man on google cant manage our hill
O.G.
TheBitterEnd
Well-known member
The post office sells the post code database to anyone who wants it. IIRC from when I worked on GIS (about 15 years ago) the post code gave the 100m grid square in which the "postman's walk" started. So it could cover anything from part of a street to a whole village depending on how dense the housing was.
Roger W
Well-known member
I suppose it might be a convenient way to input the location of a destination where you know the postal address - as when you are going to visit your Aunt Mildred or whoever, for example. But it isn't a convenient way if - as has been stated - either you don't know the postcode or the place in question doesn't have one.
Come to that, how many people know the OS grid reference of wherever they might happen to be and in need of an ambulance or whatever?
Maybe you can't beat a bit of "The third left after the Mason's Arms" or "Follow the path up the hill from Trow Gill and look for a bloody great hole in the ground. You can't miss it..."
Come to that, how many people know the OS grid reference of wherever they might happen to be and in need of an ambulance or whatever?
Maybe you can't beat a bit of "The third left after the Mason's Arms" or "Follow the path up the hill from Trow Gill and look for a bloody great hole in the ground. You can't miss it..."
Certainly a few years ago the 'Surrey' ambulances relied only on post codes and I guess the situation is unchanged.
For ?non-post code? locations they were keen to have the page and grid reference from ?Surrey Street Atlas?
I wonder if other counties use a similar local publication :-\
So, for Surrey mines (quarries) I worked out all the nearest post codes and all the 'Surrey Atlas' page and grid references for the main sites, plus location descriptions and printed them on a small 'credit card' sized laminated bit of card for trips. Luckily never had to use them :
For ?non-post code? locations they were keen to have the page and grid reference from ?Surrey Street Atlas?
I wonder if other counties use a similar local publication :-\
So, for Surrey mines (quarries) I worked out all the nearest post codes and all the 'Surrey Atlas' page and grid references for the main sites, plus location descriptions and printed them on a small 'credit card' sized laminated bit of card for trips. Luckily never had to use them :
paul
Moderator
As usual things have drifted from the original thread.
The jist of the Ramblers notice on their website as referenced by Bob at the start of this thread is:
I have had personal experience of this in the Peak where an ambulance was required for a third party whom I had assited with others to the side of a main road. On dialling 999 and asking for an Ambulance we were asked for a Post Code despite stating we were on the A54 Road in a layby on open moorland with no nearby buildings to use as a Post Code reference. They weren't at all interested in a Grid Reference.
No MR Teams were required or involved as we were at the roadside. Nothing to do with locating cave or mine entrances. Just requesting an ambulance to attend an injured person at the roadside in open moorland some distance from habitation.
To add to the confusion, we were about 200 meters over the border from Derbyshire into Cheshire and there was added debate about which County we were located in despite being less than 7 kilometers from Buxton.
The jist of the Ramblers notice on their website as referenced by Bob at the start of this thread is:
I have had personal experience of this in the Peak where an ambulance was required for a third party whom I had assited with others to the side of a main road. On dialling 999 and asking for an Ambulance we were asked for a Post Code despite stating we were on the A54 Road in a layby on open moorland with no nearby buildings to use as a Post Code reference. They weren't at all interested in a Grid Reference.
No MR Teams were required or involved as we were at the roadside. Nothing to do with locating cave or mine entrances. Just requesting an ambulance to attend an injured person at the roadside in open moorland some distance from habitation.
To add to the confusion, we were about 200 meters over the border from Derbyshire into Cheshire and there was added debate about which County we were located in despite being less than 7 kilometers from Buxton.
But as has been mentioned above, postcodes can potentially cover a fair sized area and are not accurate on their own - they need extra information such as house name/number etc, which is useless when you're not near habitation. Admittedly grid-refs can be vague, depending on how accurately they are provided, but in certain situations are better than a postcode.AndyF said:Shouldn't the campaign be to get outdoor people to be aware of their postcode when setting out, or to carry GPS's with that very postcode software on it?
We are the ones putting themselves in harms way, its up to us to take resposibility for that..
Why should everyone have to carry a GPS (and more so with generally worthless postcode information) When I go walking I hardly ever carry one, usually carry a map which is more than sufficient to navigate with. Same could apply to car, sometimes don't have sat-nav, maybe just a map - what if I came across a car in a ditch on a remote moorland road - could possibly provide useless grid-ref.. Even if I did have postcode information it would still be vague.
kay
Well-known member
AndyF said:Shouldn't the campaign be to get outdoor people to be aware of their postcode when setting out, or to carry GPS's with that very postcode software on it?
We are the ones putting themselves in harms way, its up to us to take resposibility for that..
Is it really practical to carry a list of postcodes for a 12 mile walk? (that's if everywhere on the 12 mils actually has a postcode)
AndyF
New member
Roger W said:
I'm glad someone realised that...!!!
There was a valid point made earlier though, is how would the police attending an RTA communicate their location to the ambulance service. Do they go through a central service or are the in touch locally with the ambulance service who have"local knowledge"...?
paul
Moderator
AndyF said:Roger W said:
I'm glad someone realised that...!!!
There was a valid point made earlier though, is how would the police attending an RTA communicate their location to the ambulance service. Do they go through a central service or are the in touch locally with the ambulance service who have"local knowledge"...?
I would imagine that the Emergency Services communicate directly with each other and have no problems sorting out locations based on road names, etc.
The problem seeks to have arisen via the public route of dialling 999 and requesting an Ambulance where the controller who deals with the 999 call can only accept Post Codes before passing the request onwards for an Ambulance to attend.
SpeleoTrog
Member
whitelackington
New member
Why not scrap postcodes, which are crap and change with grid references, teach all children to read a map and how to arrive at a grid reference.darren said:
I taught my daughter to read a map when she was eight and a few years later how to work out the grid reference.
She is now 23 and has never yet been lost.
