West Mercia Police 101 calls glitch ‘being resolved’

A policing chief said a glitch in the 101 non-emergency calling system is being resolved.

A meeting was told that the 101 calling system has a function that is meant to be time-saving in that it calls the person on the line back when handlers are able to deal with the issue.

Bromsgrove Councillor Helen Jones (Conservative, Marlbrook ward) told a meeting of the West Mercia Police and Crime Panel on Monday (July 21) that she had to ring 101 twice last month and was “on hold for well over 40 minutes”.

She asked Conservative Police & Crime Commissioner John Campion how confident he is in call-handling statistics that show an average wait time of four minutes and 15 seconds.

“I unfortunately had to ring 101 twice in the last month and was on hold for well over 40 minutes,” she said.

“The answerphone recording that says ‘press 1 and we’ll ring straight back’ just rings you straight back and puts you back in the queue.”

Mr Campion said that Councillor Jones highlighted a “flaw that became apparent a couple of weeks ago to [him]”.

He confirmed that the system “offers to call back but rings you back and sticks you straight back in the queue”.

Mr Campion said the system is aimed to encourage calls and allow people to carry on with their daily lives.

“Being able to press a button and cracking on with your life can mitigate the frustration of being online and listening to music,” he said.

Mr Campion said: “It is a fault… if it hasn’t been resolved today, it is imminently.”