The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A woman wanting advice about a broken egg in her fridge dialled 999 for an ambulance.
The East Midlands Ambulance Service has created a list of the top ten most inappropriate 999 calls in the last six months.
Apart from the broken egg, a dead fox and a caller wanting someone to make breakfast were also logged by emergency call handlers.
The service answers 2,500 999 calls every day from people needing medical assistance.
They deal with everything from heart attacks to serious injury and the service is urging people not to waste
their time.
“When you call 999 because someone is unconscious, not breathing, having chest pains or has the symptoms of a stroke, you are making the right call.
“Our emergency call handlers are trained to deliver life-saving instructions over the phone and we will get help to you as quickly as possible,” said Simon Tomlinson, general manager for the emergency operations centres.
Recent inappropriate calls using the 999 service include someone with a broken toenail, someone wanting a lift home and another person who did not want to wait 30 minutes for a GP appointment.
“While our 999 call handlers are dealing with these phone calls, they cannot answer calls from people experiencing a real medical emergency,” added Mr Tomlinson.
Toothache and someone wanting sleeping tablets were among the top ten of the most inappropriate calls.
