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Discussion Forum - Ideas Forum - Contacting The Emergency Services - Location By Grid Reference Difficulties


Author: Tony Willey
Posted: Sat 17th Sep 2011, 18:40
Joined: 1989
Local Group: Lakeland
Ramblers now have 36 documented cases which are on their website http://www.ramblers.org.uk/Campaigns+Policy/999_campaign . The LDWA are supporting this campaign through our membership of the UK Search & Rescue Inland Consultative Committee. If you have come across any example yourself please post details on this thread or by contacting the LDWA Secretary.
Author: Louise Whittaker
Posted: Wed 29th Jun 2011, 22:32
Joined: 1994
Local Group: Staffordshire
Radio 4 gave voice today to the Rambler Organisations concerns regarding the emergency services not being able to 'process' grid references - there were spokepersons from the Ramblers. I suggest LDWA members support by registering any experiences they have had regarding this matter. Louise
Posted: Wed 22nd Jun 2011, 17:09
Joined: 1994
The Ramblers have now added a map of places for which they have received reports of difficulties getting ambulances by grid ref. The map can bee seen on http://www.ramblers.org.uk/Campaigns+Policy/999_map. You might want to make enquiries to the Ambulance trusts covering the areas where you walk espcially if your are organising an event.
Posted: Thu 28th Apr 2011, 18:22
Joined: 1994
The Ramblers have had reports about emergency services not being able to handle grid references and are asking their members to report if they have had problems in their area. The item can be read at
http://www.ramblers.org.uk/OneStopCMS/Core/TemplateHandler.aspx?NRMODE=Published&NRNODEGUID={36122409-2E80-4E3D-888A-10A35A1221FF}&NRORIGINALURL=%2fVolunteer%2fNews%2fGrid-Reference-and-999-Concerns&NRCACHEHINT=NoModifyGuest

I asked a few questions about this and the key item in the response was

"Each Ambulance Trust & even some fire & rescue services appear to use
different software. Some can trace you through your mobile phone, some
use grid references, some don't, all use postcodes etc... There is no
coordination..."

This looks like something we ought to be aware of .

You might find it interesting to try converting a grid reference to a post code. There are probably several web sites that can do this. I tried http://www.nearby.org.uk/ which was the first one google found for "grid reference to postcode converter". Results varied from 300 meters to well over 1 kilometer between the starting 2alpha6digit grid ref and where the central point of the post code appeared to be.

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