Gwent Police has revealed details about some of the bizarre and time-wasting 999 calls it receives.
Each year the force gets about 1,000 bogus 999 calls.
Examples include:
- A caller requesting that police check on Tony Blair as “I haven’t seen him on TV for ages.”
- A caller stating: “The electric has gone off and I was watching a film on telly in bed.”
- Someone explaining: “I need a taxi – I have no credit on my phone.”
- A person wanting directions on: “how to get to London for Prince William’s wedding.”
- A woman asking for help to “fix her kettle.”
- Several people rang up to see if they had been reported missing while a man called up on Christmas Eve to ask if it was okay to leave his turkey in the oven overnight.
Chief Inspector Steve Thomas, who is responsible for the operation of the Gwent Police control room, said: “The majority of 999 calls we receive are genuine emergencies, and when we are called we do our very best to answer calls within 10 seconds, and deploy officers appropriately depending on the nature of the call.
“However an increasing amount of calls, especially on weekends, are not appropriate 999 emergencies. Each call often takes minutes to deal with as our staff have to clarify the nature of every situation before terminating a call no matter how bizarre it may sound.
“It might not sound like much but if someone is trying to get through to report a genuine life-or-death emergency and it¹s taking us a few seconds longer to respond as we are dealing with inappropriate calls, then tragedies can happen.
“While it’s frustrating having to deal with inappropriate calls, having to deal with people who maliciously dial 999, knowing they are making a false report is unacceptable.
“On average we receive around 1,000 hoax calls per year – which is about three a day. Whenever possible we pursue those involved in malicious calls and the maximum punishment for wasting police time is six months in prison.”
“We would always urge the public to use the 101 number if it is not an emergency situation so we can deliver a professional and effective service for those people in real need.”