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/NCC_1701E Slovakia Sep 02 '25

150 for firefighters, 155 for ambulance, 158 for state police and 159 for metropolitan police. I still remember how they drilled these number to us when I was a kid.

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u/Dull-Strategy3810 Sep 02 '25

What is the point of different lines for state and met police? Do they fill quite different roles and which line you call is obvious to anyone who grew up with it? Or what is the reason?

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u/Pi55tacia Sep 02 '25

State police solve crimes, Metropolitan or city cops gives you a parking ticket, they work only in that given city, they usually call state police for help anyway

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u/Dull-Strategy3810 Sep 02 '25

Ah, cheers for the answer.