999 call about Brussels sprouts prompts police warning about emergency line misuse

Other resource-wasting calls included someone complaining of a stray sheep and a lost bus pass

A 999 caller asking where to buy Brussels sprouts has prompted warnings about wasting police resources.

Just a month after the Welsh Ambulance Service launched a similar campaign, Welsh police forces are urging the public to think before they dial 999.

The Welsh Ambulance Service received 116,674 calls in the year to September deemed not serious or life-threatening – including calls about toothache, hiccups, and a sore bikini line.

North Wales Police said out of the 230,000 calls it receives a year, 68,000 of them are valid.

But the line has also been used for non-urgent calls, including from the caller wondering where they can buy Brussels sprouts, a farmer who was “fed up” with a sheep in his yard, a lost bus pass, and a customer complaining about being unable to get a refund for their mobile phone top-up card.

Temporary inspector Gary Lloyd, of North Wales Police, said: “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 telling us a taxi hasn’t turned up is a complete waste of resources, and could possibly prevent a genuine life or death emergency call being put through.”

Mr Lloyd added the police were “not a taxi service”, noting a higher volume of calls at this time of the year from people who are looking for a lift home “often because they haven’t left themselves enough money to get home”.

There have also been 17,000 abandoned 999 calls this year.

“We appreciate that accidents do happen… but the impact of hundreds of dropped 999 calls a day adds up,” said Mr Lloyd.

“Our advice is simple – if you call 999 by accident and the call is answered, please explain what’s happened. It will only take a few seconds and will enable the call to be cleared with no issues.”

Emergencies where calling 999 is appropriate include a life in danger or someone being physically threatened, or if a person has been involved in a serious road traffic collision where someone is badly injured.

In all other cases, calls can be placed to the police’s non-emergency 101 line.