Callers in Scotland warned 999 glitch may still cause "some delays" hours after it was reported

A full investigation is underway while BT works to restore the primary lines as soon as possible.

Callers to emergency services in Edinburgh and across Scotland have been warned that a fault causing calls to ‘not connect’ may still be causing delays, nearly eight hours after it was reported.

A nationwide technical issue meant calls are not being connected to emergency services across the UK since it was first reported on 8.30am on Sunday, June 25.

By lunchtime some services in the UK were restored but Scotland continued to face issues on Sunday afternoon. The Scottish Government warned around 4pm that the technical issue with the 999 call system may still “cause some delays” in Scotland,.

Callers warned 999 calls may still face delays due to fault

UK Government Ministers issued a statement confirming an investigation has been launched into the fault.

The Scottish Government statement said: "There is a technical issue with the 999 call system which may cause some delays. The back-up system for 999/112 is fully operational and genuine emergencies should continue to call these numbers. Any issues call 101 for police and fire and rescue services, or 111 for health.

BT said the issue was caused by a technical fault, and that a back-up system is being used while it worked to restore the primary 999 lines. It said its priority was getting the lines "up and running as soon as possible" and experts were trying to work out the cause.

The Telecomms company warned that call handling times might be "slightly longer than normal", but urged people to call 999 as usual.

Police Scotland issued guidance earlier on Sunday telling people to call 101 in an emergency and only call in an emergency for the time being – wait until later to make 101 non-emergency calls.

A government spokesperson said:

"We are aware of a technical issue with the 999 call system today. A full investigation is underway to resolve this as quickly as possible.

“BT's back-up system for emergency calls is running and members of the public with genuine emergencies should continue to call 999 or 112 in the normal way.

“You should be able to connect when calling 999 or 112, but if you still have difficulties connecting you may contact 101 for police and fire and rescue services, or 111 for health.”