Emergency SMS service

The emergency SMS service allows deaf, hard of hearing, and speech-impaired people in the UK to send an SMS text message to the UK 999 service, where it will be passed to the police, ambulance, fire, and rescue, or coastguard.

How does it work?

By sending an SMS message to 999, you can call for help and the emergency services will be able to reply to you.

A relay assistant will speak your SMS message to the 999 advisors, their reply will be sent back to you as an SMS message.

If you send another SMS text message, the relay assistant will again read it to the 999 advisors and send their reply back to you.

How to register

You MUST register your mobile phone before using the emergency SMS service.

Step 1: Text 'register' to 999

Step 2: You will receive a reply explaining the service. Please read through this.

Step 3: Text back 'Yes'

Step 4: You will receive a text confirming your registration for the service.

You can find out more information about Emergency SMS on the Emergency SMS website.