The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Police emergency call handlers were stunned when a Spalding resident called 999 to complain about a Chinese takeaway.
Police Sector Inspector Gareth Boxall condemned the irresponsible act on Monday night.
He said he was: “Sorry to read that someone in our community thought it appropriate to call 999 to complain about their Chinese takeaway.”
The caller has not been identified but police confirmed it came from Spalding.
Emergency calls directed to the police are dealt with by call handlers based in Lincoln and Insp Boxall spotted the report on the log.
“It was explained to the caller in clear terms that this was not an emergency,” he said.
Inappropriate use of 999 for the police in Lincolnshire is not a major problem, he added.
But the ridiculous nature of this week’s call highlighted a problem that has affected all the blue light services.
A spokesman for the East Midlands Ambulance Service said it had been working hard to dissuade people from calling 999 when it was not necessary.
“Sometimes people just think we have vehicles waiting around for them. But that’s not the case at all and if we send a crew to a call that didn’t require it, someone else could lose out,” she said.
Among the more “outstanding” calls received by the service this year was a man requesting a lift to London to “see someone special.”
Another person waited an hour-and-a-half in the accident and emergency department of a Lincolnshire hospital and called 999 rather than speak to reception.
The service also received 999 calls about dandruff, a dead cat and someone wanting their shopping done – all during the period of a month earlier this year.
With bonfire night approaching, all the emergency services are stressing that abuse of the system could cost lives.
“Every 999 call is assessed so that the right help is provided to the right people, so you could receive the right treatment for you more quickly by contacting an alternative NHS service particularly if your call is not a serious emergency” said Simon Tomlinson, General Manager for our Emergency Operations Centres.
“When our emergency call handlers are dealing with these calls, they cannot speak to someone in a real emergency,” he added.
The ambulance service also receive thousands of “unknown calls” from people calling to report something they may have seen.
EMAS occassionally publish the timewasting calls, like this unreasonable request: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xchk6DbI8QE
