Liability for a fire brigade charge

LouthLass said:
the fire brigade will charge the caller of a 999 call about €500 for the attendance regardless of whether it is a house fire (even if not own home!!) or a wheelie bin fire!!
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How do they know who it is? I have made 999 calls in the past from both landlines and payphones and they never asked for personal details.
 
That's exactly my point!! If indeed this is just a horrible urban rumour then surely the powers that be should be taking steps to quash it! Potentially peoples' lives are in danger here because, as evidenced today, people believe they will be charged for making the call whether it true or not!
 
LouthLass said:
That's exactly my point!! If indeed this is just a horrible urban rumour then surely the powers that be should be taking steps to quash it
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Eh? What "powers that be"?

The details of when and how service charges apply in this situation are either set out or linked to earlier in this thread.
Potentially peoples' lives are in danger here because, as evidenced today, people believe they will be charged for making the call whether it true or not!
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Evidenced where?
 
Evidenced as in someone told me that they would not call out the services as they believed that they would be personally accountable for the charge incurred - even if it was just one person, it is one person too many when potential lives are at risk. When I said 'powers that be' I meant the bosses of the emergency services, if they are made aware that some people believe they will be charged for calling 999 then surely they should put in place some kind of advertising campaign that puts people straight about the procedure. I take on board what you say about costings etc being available via links in this site but unfortunately not everybody has access to the wealth of information this site provides and indeed the internet as a whole. My inital query still stands and that is if I or anyone else calls the fire brigade to a potential situation, can a charge be levied against the caller?
 
LouthLass said:
My inital query still stands and that is if I or anyone else calls the fire brigade to a potential situation, can a charge be levied against the caller?
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Each local authority has different policies on charging. Give your LA a call on Tuesday morning and they will clarify the situation for you.
 
1 November 2007 - RTE NEWS - http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/1101/halloween.html

'Dublin Fire Brigade said its services were stretched to breaking point after it received around 1,300 calls in the 12-hour period since 6pm yesterday evening.'
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I wouldn't imagine they recouped the costs from all those callers so it seems very unfair that a genuine caller or 'good samaritan' would be charged for making an emergency call.
 
LouthLass said:
My inital query still stands and that is if I or anyone else calls the fire brigade to a potential situation, can a charge be levied against the caller?
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I called the fire brigade for a skip fire on my road about a year ago. From recollection, I think they took my number (they would have had it anyway from the call) and I didn't get charged or have any further correspondence. Croke Park area.

Sprite
 
Are you implying that some or all of those 1,300 calls were not "genuine"?
 
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