Vale Council contact centre to provide emergency service
Published: 14 July 2010
The Vale of Glamorgan Council has launched a new emergency contact centre service for Cardiff Airport.
The council's contact centre, C1V (Contact One Vale), provides a 24 hour, seven days a week emergency service to local residents and it is the first council contact centre to provide this type of service for the private sector.
Leader of the Vale council, Cllr Gordon Kemp, said: "Our contact centre deals with hundreds of calls every week from Vale residents requesting council services. C1V also offers a 24/7 emergency service to residents and we are pleased to now be working with the airport to offer this emergency contact service. It represents an important development in the council's support of local employers and the interest of our community."
In the event of a major incident at the airport the contact centre would be the first point of call for worried relatives and travellers. C1V would also step in as the airport's emergency contact centre in the event of major disruption to air travel, such as the recent ash cloud crisis. The service provided by the council will ensure that residents and travellers receive accurate information quickly and efficiently, allowing airport staff to respond effectively to the incident.
In the event of an air disaster these arrangements allow for coordination between C1V, Cardiff Airport and the Police Casualty Bureau.
Avril Brown, Cardiff Airport's Contingency Planner commented: "The airport and staff at the centre have worked hard to get this project off the ground over recent months and we're delighted that it's now up and running. It's a huge advantage to have a local call centre, manned by local people available to us, and setting up this partnership has been a great achievement.
Although most UK airlines have their own emergency contact centres, as an airport to have back-up support on our doorstep to assist within the first critical hours of a serious incident could prove to be extremely beneficial."