‘All our agents are currently busy and unavailable. If you would like to hold to speak to our emergency response team, please wait and we will connect you as soon as possible’.

This was not what I expected to hear when I dialled 999. I needed the police to attend to a burglary that was playing out in real time in front of my very eyes on Edinburgh’s Annandale Street.

The burglars had broken entry into a secure underground car park, forced their way into a locked white Morgan, then attempted to hotwire the car. A young witness to the crime-in-action also on the street with me, ran into the car park in the hope of chasing the criminals away. They responded by giving him a beating.

If the police didn’t answer soon, as well as the burglary, there would be a murder to report.