Change to outgoing emergency numbers in France

Calls from France’s emergency services will from this week show up as a different number on phones.

If the emergency services call you back after you make an initial emergency contact, the number will show as 0 800 112 112.

The change came into force on Tuesday, October 1. 

The number will show for all calls from all French emergency services including ambulance, police and fire brigade. 

The Gendarmerie du Rhone alerted people to the new number in a post on X and stressed the number was not a scam.

“You can answer in full confidence and at no cost to you,” it wrote. 

If you miss the call, you can call back the same number, where a voicemail will give you instructions for the best way to contact the relevant department. 

Emergency services across the country have been alerting people to the change. Some have recommended people save the number in their phones so they can quickly recognise it in future. 

The emergency numbers will remain the same:

SAMU - 15

Police - 17

Fire brigade - 18

Help from any European country - 112