THE 999 emergency service celebrates its 80th anniversary today.

The phone service, which is run by BT, was set up on June 30, 1937 and Glasgow was the second city in the UK to benefit from the emergency line.

The world’s oldest emergency service was launched in London after a fire at a doctor’s surgery in November 1935, led to the tragic death of five women.

Following the blaze, a committee was set up by the government to look at the problem of how telephone operators could identify emergency calls.

That committee proposed that there should be a standard easy-to-remember nationwide number to alert the emergency services.

They considered using 707, which corresponded to the letters SOS on the telephone dial and 333, but the technology of the time would not allow these to be used - and 999 was chosen as the most practical number.

Glasgow became the second city to benefit from the service in 1938. The Second World War delayed the rollout of the service across the UK, but it was eventually extended to all major towns and cities by 1948.

Today, BT advisors now answer around 560,000 calls a week – that is around 30 million calls a year from fixed and mobile phones – with more than 97 per cent answered within five seconds.

Some of the highest numbers of calls made to 999 are around midnight on Friday and Saturday nights, with around 5,000 calls an hour being received by BT.

The early hours of New Year’s Day are traditionally the busiest time of the year when up to 9,000 calls can be received each hour.

Brendan Dick, BT Scotland director, said: “Recent events in the UK mean people are acutely aware of the work of the emergency services and the value of the 999 service.

"I am extremely proud of the BT operators and their role in 999. They are an extremely capable and committed team working at the sharp end of the most important communication services in the country.

"Countless lives have been saved in Scotland over the last 80 years because of their professionalism and dedication.”