A policeman caused chaos after accidentally tweeting that there had been a plane crash in a town centre.The red-faced cop got an urgent call from his bosses after he fired off a 'pre-set' tweet stating that he was dealing with the crash landing of a passenger aeroplane in the middle of a town in Surrey.The neighbourhood cop was doing what hundreds of cops and PCSOs up and down the country are doing to 'keep in touch' with locals by using social networking sites to keep followers 'updated' about what they are doing.But after a blunder on his new smartphone the bobby - who has not been identified - caused panic when his followers on Twitter started inundating Surrey police HQ with calls to find out about the crash. Police Federation magazine Police revealed details of the bungle, saying the cop had accidentally posted the tweet when he was on the beat last month.The magazine stated: "A neighbourhood officer in Surrey was delighted when he was issued with his new work HTC smart phone, enabling him to broadcast his daily duties as well as up and coming events via the use of social networking sights such as Twitter and Facebook."After spending time getting to grips with his new piece of kit and learning how to navigate around this wonderful piece of technology and all the pre-set Twitter and Facebook updates, he decided to head out on foot in his beloved town centre with the intention of 'tweeting' his patrols to his admiring followers."While out and about speaking with the community his new phone started to ring."Imagine the shock when a member of the media and communications office informed him that they had been inundated with calls asking for further information on the incident, after reading his twitter update about the 'plane crash' he was apparently dealing with in the town centre, a pre-set tweet accidentally activated on his phone. "It added: "Needless to say the 'local town bobby' has been on the receiving end of a variety of plane-related comments from both his colleagues and members of the public."A police source said: "The poor guy was inconsolable. "He caused a lot of problems that day with everyone wondering where this plane had come down in the middle of a town centre."He has since been given a crash course - no pun intended - on how to use the phone properly and will be a little bit more careful from now on."A spokesman for Surrey Police said cops had a number of 'pre-set' tweets on their smartphones to 'cover every eventuality'.The bungling cop who accidentally tweeted that a plane had crashed in a town centre said it had come down in Camberley, Surrey - the home of the Sandhurst Military Academy. A police source confirmed that the officer was 'very new to the phone' and that he was on his beat in the town - home to the the academy where Prince William and Prince Harry attended - when he made the error.
Quite the error there! I can certainly imagine a lot of Camberely in uproar after reading such a tweet! Quite a funny story for me as it's quite a close town to where I abide. Definitely made me chuckle.
The story can be found here: http://www.telegraph...lane-crash.html
