Police forces across the UK experienced technical problems with the 101 non-emergency phone number on Friday, which meant calls were not being connected.

The Metropolitan Police, Lancashire Constabulary and South Wales Police were among those to report difficulties, caused by a technical issue with the Vodafone network.

The NHS 111 phone line was also hit with technical faults, with ambulance services advising those needing urgent medical advice to visit the website.

Police forces provided alternative ways of contacting them online following a “technical issue” with the 101 non-emergency line, which began shortly before midday.

“We’re working on a technical issue with calls to us on 101. You may have experienced problems getting through to us.” a tweet by Lancashire Police said.

The 999 emergency number did not appear to be affected.

Meanwhile, West Midlands Ambulance Service said there was a national issue affecting the ability to call the NHS 111 line.

While the fault was being investigated, the ambulance service advised those needing urgent medical advice to visit NHS 111 online.

Vodafone apologised to customers affected by the technical fault, which was resolved shortly after 2pm.

“We had a technical fault affecting calls to and from fixed telephone networks,” a Vodafone spokesman said.

“This began shortly after midday, and we fixed the issue at around 2.15pm. We apologise to those customers that were affected.”

Shortly after 3pm on Friday, a number of police forces reported that the issues were resolved, including Thames Valley Police.

The force said everything “seems to be okay now”, but advised those needing to make non-emergency contact to report it online.

“We have experienced issues with 101 today (national issue),” the force tweeted.

“Everything seems to be okay now but for the moment, we’d advise that if you need to make non-emergency contact please report online.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “There was a technical issue with the Vodafone network that briefly affected the 101 service call service. This has now been resolved.”

“Members of the public can contact the police online for non-emergency crimes or incidents, and should continue to call the 999 service for emergencies.”