Local woman calls 911 because she’s late for her train

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Published November 21, 2019 at 4:29 pm

911call

When your ride abandons you in the neighbourhood, who you gonna call?

Not 9-1-1. 

“Being late for a trip is never ideal. Calling 9-1-1 to ask the police to act as an ‘emergency’ ride service, to get you there on time? Yeah…not gonna happen. Yes. This was a real call,” Peel Regional Police said on Twitter. 

On Nov. 21, Peel police shared a phone call between a seemingly clueless commuter and an incredulous dispatcher. Over the course of the phone call, the caller asked the dispatcher if police could send her an “emergency ride” to get her to her train. 

“This is in terms of an officer,” a woman can be heard saying on the call. “Uh, I’m supposed to have a trip to Union Station. The ride that was supposed to show up for me this morning did not and I don’t know how you guys work with services in terms of that, because I’m in a taxi right now but it’s not gonna get me to the station on time for my train to board at 9:45 (am).” 

“Okay, I’m sorry. So you’re in a taxi cab and you think you’re going to be late for your train ride at Union Station?”, the dispatcher responds.

“Yeah,” the caller answers. 

“And so what would you like an officer to do?”

“Do you guys offer emergency ride services or not?”

The dispatcher repeats the question back to the caller, seemingly shocked by the entire exchange before telling her that she can assure her that police offer no such service. 

The audio release comes after months of warnings to not call 9-1-1 for silly or non-emergency purposes. Over the past few months, police across Ontario have asked residents not to call 9-1-1 to complain about Amber Alerts, incorrect restaurant orders, ice cream trucks, and unwanted snow pants

It’s not fun to miss your train, but it’s surely not a life or death situation.

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