Essex Police have announced that a national service fault that prevented 999 calls from getting through has now been fixed, but it faces a backlog of calls.

Earlier this morning (Sunday, 25 June) Essex Police urged the public to dial 101 in case of emergency, as 999 calls were not connecting due to a "national technical fault".

A spokesperson for Essex Police said: "Until further notice, please call 101 in an emergency. If your issue is not an emergency, please consider using our other methods of reporting, which can be found on the police website."

However, at 10am, an Essex Police spokesperson issued an update, saying: "An immediate resolution has been applied to the national 999 fault and we are now able to receive emergency calls.

"Like all forces, however, we are experiencing the residual impact of the national fault and we would continue to ask people to continue to use 999 only in a genuine emergency."