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The traffic service’s switchboard in Jönköping would do maintenance work.
The calls were then connected to 11-year-old Olle Hansers in Järvsö.
– I thought it was strange, says Olle to Aftonbladet.
At around 8pm on Thursday evening, Olle Hanser’s mobile phone started ringing non-stop from unknown numbers.
Olle, who was playing computer games, alerted his mother Mari Hansers, who had taught him not to answer unknown numbers.
– I said “Mum, there are a lot of people I don’t know who are calling me right now. Can you answer if there are more calls,” says Olle.
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full screen Olle and mother Mari had to explain that they could not administer any transport service in Jönköping. Photo: Private
Mari answered the next call and asked who or who the person wanted to call. The answer was the travel service in Jönköping.
– I hung up and then it rang again. Someone called from psychiatry and wanted to book a travel service for a patient, a woman called about a payment that didn’t work.
It quickly became clear that all the calls came from Jönköping residents trying to book an emergency transport service.
– I said they came to my eleven-year-old son. Some laughed and others apologized, says Mari.
Woke up by call
In connection with maintenance work, the travel service in Region Jönköping had forwarded its exchange to three mobile numbers – one of which went to Olle.
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full screen County traffic in Jönköping has called and apologized to Olle and Mari. Photo: Press photo
Mari estimates that she answered about 30 calls during two hours in the evening. Many also called at the same time as she was busy in conversation. Mari took Olle’s phone after he was woken up by calls when he went to bed.
At 10 pm, Mari went to bed. But before that, she left an explanation for the Jönköping residents who continued to try to book a ride service.
– I put in a voicemail and explained that the transport service connected their exchange to the wrong number and that they had to call on Friday instead, she says.
Don’t know what went wrong
During Friday, Länstrafiken in Jönköping became aware of what had happened.
Service travel manager, Jönköping Länstrafik and member of the Swedish Transport Association. Photo: Sff
– I have spoken to the victim and apologized for all the trouble it caused. We will of course compensate the person for this in some way, says Anna-Karin Malm, manager of service trips at Länstrafiken in a press release.
There is no information that any serious incidents have occurred due to the error, according to Länstrafiken.
Exactly where it went wrong is still unclear. According to Malm, they are now investigating what happened so that it does not happen again.
According to Olle, similar misconnections have happened a few times before, but then there have been isolated calls. He hopes no one was hurt by the mistake.
– I hope they got help.