The service allows hill walkers and mountaineers, who come into trouble in Scotland, to text 999 for help, handy for when there’s not enough signal to make a phone call but sufficient coverage to send a text. The Mountaineering Council of Scotland (MCofS) says that this service could save lives.
The MCofS, which represents 10,500 climbers, mountaineers and hill walker’s is calling for anyone who is thinking of venturing into the Scottish mountains to register with the new text system. You can only use the new service if you have registered – so it’s something to consider before you set out hiking, or skiing. With snow set to arrive in the coming weeks, the less time you have to wait for help to arrive, the better, unless you fancy turning into a real life snowman!
If you do sign up, it only takes two minutes, just be aware that the text system doesn’t guarantee that the SMS will get through, especially with patchy signal, so don’t assume that help is on the way until you receive a text alert from the emergency services (unless of course, their text doesn’t get through either!)
The number of rescue operations in the Scottish highlands is at an all-time high, hitting a record number of incidents so far in 2010. This is expected to increase in the next few months.
The number of rescue operations in the Scottish highlands is at an all-time high, hitting a record number of incidents so far in 2010. This is expected to increase in the next few months.
With more and more people getting active to combat the couch potato lifestyle, we would like to hear if you’d be interested in using a service like this?
