Posted: Tue 30th Jun 2015

Man Rings 999 To Ask Police To Turn His Bedroom Light Off (& Others!)

Wrexham.com for people living in or visiting the Wrexham area
This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Jun 30th, 2015

A man calling about a rabbit in a layby and other silly 999 calls have been released by the three emergency services, in a bid to reduce the amount of unnecessary and inappropriate calls made to the Joint Communication Centre in St Asaph.

A report of someone complaining about their neighbour’s washing machine, a request for assistance in retrieving a football from a roof, a complaint about waiting for a taxi, a child playing on the telephone, a complaint regarding wrongly prescribed medication and a man wanting his bedroom light turning off are just some of the examples of the inappropriate calls North Wales Police, North Wales Fire and Rescue Service and Welsh Ambulance Service Trust have received recently with some audio released in the video below:

Today police explained how the recent works on the A483/A55 Posthouse Roundabout have increased people dialling 999, with the weekend’s traffic problems resulting in nearly double the number of calls. People were getting in touch to ask if the police could open the road, and alerting police to people sitting on the carriageway and verges while the traffic was stopped.

Traditionally the summer is one the busiest times of year for the emergency services and officers are asking people to use the 999 system wisely to help ensure a genuine emergency is not missed over the holidays.

Last year the Force received 105,930 calls during the summer holiday period (June through to September) including emergency and non-emergency calls.

Superintendent Alex Goss is urging people to make sure that they use the 999-line appropriately, and only contact the non-emergency line if it is a police matter.

He said: “We are now approaching one of our busiest times of the year. Each unnecessary call to us reduces time available for calls which are for genuine policing matters.”

“Phoning 999 – which is an emergency line, for trivial matters such as being annoyed with your next door neighbour’s spinning washing machine is a complete waste of resources, and could possibly prevent a genuine life or death emergency call being put through.”

Sonia Thompson, the Welsh Ambulance Service’s Head of Operations for the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board area, said: “Unfortunately, we still receive a significant number of inappropriate calls that do not require an ambulance response.

“We don’t want to deter anyone from calling 999, but we want them to think twice before they do.
When people misuse the service it means our precious time is being taken away from someone who really does need our help.

“During peak periods, like the summer, every non-essential call has the potential to delay a response to a serious emergency.

The release of the silly and often bizarre calls was explained as ‘here not to embarrass people but to highlight the issues’,

There is also to be a new addition to the methods of contacting police, with a web chat system due to launch in July. The system will be open via the North Wales Police website from 7am to 10pm with trained operators ready to respond. Once the system goes live Wrexham.com will publish further details.

Interestingly we discovered that there is still an option to fax North Wales Police, but they said today they ‘can’t remember last time we had a fax’ !

Other examples detailed today of inappropriate calls made to the three services:

  • a complaint about the incorrect medicine being given by a doctor,
  • a request for assistance in removing a hornets nest
  • a man with toothache
  • a complaint that a taxi company were discriminating against them due to not having taxis available.
  • complaints about bins not being emptied
  • someone ringing 999 to inform police of a stray dog roaming the streets
  • a woman with stomach cramps after a bad kebab
  • a woman who had been bitten by a cat
  • a man with an abcess on his bottom
  • man wanting his bedroom light turning off
  • a drunk woman wanting a lift home
  • man with something up his bottom (We did ask what, but could not find out!)
  • a woman with sunburned feet

Supt Goss added: “Phoning 999 for routine matters will not result in an improved service to the caller. We do have powers to prosecute people for misusing the 999 system and if people are found to consistently making hoax calls they could face prosecution.”

It can be hard to judge what is or is not an emergency, but in general, you should call 999 if:

  • A life is in danger or someone is being physically threatened, or if you are witnessing a crime happening at the time, or think the offenders are still nearby
  • You witness or are involved in a serious road traffic collision where someone is badly injured, or other vehicles are causing an obstruction or a danger to other road users

Otherwise calls should be made to the non-emergency line, 101 (calls to 101 from landlines and mobiles cost 15p per call, no matter what time of day you call or how long you call lasts).
Notes:

Data also released today included the number of calls received by North Wales Police, which for completeness are included below:
In 2014
• 76,945 emergency (999) calls
• 339,569 non-emergency calls
• 16,273 requests for calls in the Welsh Language
• 203,610 incidents recorded.

In 2013
• 81,383 emergency (999) calls
• 367,412 non-emergency calls
• 25, 423 requests for calls in the Welsh language
• 212,726 incidents recorded.

In 2012
• 87,712 emergency calls
• 433,447 non-emergency calls
• 23,561 requests for calls in the Welsh language
• 225,000 incidents recorded



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