‘It's a Different Town': Woman Calls Police on Cape Cod to Report Crash in England

A driver called police on Cape Cod to alert them about a car crash. But she made one mistake — she made the call from England.

The caller was attempting to reach authorities in Barnstaple, a town in England's South West region. Instead, she reached the police department in Barnstable, Massachusetts.

The seriousness of the situation quickly turned into a comedy routine.

"Hello, yes, I was driving back from Barnstaple to Muddiford," the caller begins to tell the dispatcher. "Coming out through Muddiford, coming up toward Ilfracombe, where the sharp bend is and you've got the farm on the side, he went over the white line and actually hit the car."

The caller was trying to report a hit and run, but dispatcher Mark McWilliams had no idea where she was talking about.

"Where did this happen," as McWilliams asked the woman to repeat towns he's not familiar with.

It took about two minutes before both had realized what had happened.

"There's no way you can help me then, is there," the woman asks.

"It's a different town," McWilliams says. "It's twinned with Barnstaple, England. But our response time is gonna be about six hours."

The two then laugh and say goodbye.

McWilliams tells necn at first he thought it was a prank, or a confused tourist on the Cape.

"I just couldn't understand what she was saying," said McWilliams. "I didn't know if she was saying Burger King. She has an accent."

The caller tells the BBC television network in Britain that she used a digital assistant called Cortana — Microsoft's version of Siri — and that led to the mix up.

Contact Us