First emergency phone line turns 80

LONDON - The introduction of the world's first emergency telephone number 80 years ago was celebrated on Saturday by police forces across Britain. Now the 999 number to alert police, fire, ambulances and coast guards to emergencies is the best known number in Britain.

In London, the Metropolitan Police, described how, in its early days at Scotland Yard, a handful of police officers transmitted emergency messages by Morse code.

Today, the emergency service is run from three high-tech centralized communications complexes in Bow, Hendon and Lambeth boroughs.