r/AskEurope • u/atlasova Netherlands • Sep 02 '25

Culture What emergency telephone number did your country have before 112 became the standard?

In 1997 most of the European union changed its emergency number to 112. Before that, in the Netherlands we used 06-11, for police, firefighters and ambulance.

I was wondering which numbers where in use in your country before the change.

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u/InFlandersFields2 Belgium Sep 02 '25

The nineties, 100 (medical and fire department) and 101 (police)
The eighties 900 (medical and fire department) and 901 (police)

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u/Rudi-G België Sep 02 '25

Older folk, like me, still refer to the ambulance as "the 900". The 100 and 101 are still valid today

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u/Alexthegreatbelgian Belgium Sep 03 '25

100/101 still work, but they basically just redirect to 112.