THE emergency services and representatives of the telecommunications industry are getting together to try to prevent a repetition of last week's problems in south Wiltshire and Hampshire that put the 999 system out of action and left thousands of people without the use of their phones.

BT said this week it was carrying out a thorough investigation with the police, fire brigade, ambulance service and telecoms regulator Oftel.

A company spokesman said a fault had occurred in the equipment that provides power for the telecommunications apparatus at the Southampton Bargate exchange, affecting customers between about 6.30pm and midnight last Thursday.

The region affected stretched from the Isle of Wight through Hampshire to the Salisbury and Amesbury areas of Wiltshire.

Calls to the police in Wiltshire and Hampshire were rerouted to the surrounding forces, mainly those in Dorset.

Police station counters were opened in Wiltshire and Hampshire and patrols were increased.

Fire stations had engines on standby and doors to some stations stood open.

Martyn Whibley, clinical manager for Wiltshire Ambulance NHS Trust, said 999 calls were directed to the nearest control room.

"There was no threat to life," he said. "And any delays would have been of a few seconds - we have systems in place and we carried on as normal."

A spokesman for BT said the company apologised for the problems.