I can understand the police irritation, and I'd happily slap anyone for dialling 999 without a life-and-death reason, but I'm sure the problem is there's no public message about the number you ought to call in these cases...
Repeatedly drum an alternative number into people's heads, with adverts and whatnot, and they'll stop flooding the emergency line.
Magnus - Sorry, I posted it as a thread on its own because of the "Headline" thread - "Woman dials 999 to report snowman theft in Kent" is not really one I would ever expect to see.
Just goes to show now that many people go through life now and never, ever have an original thought. This lady never stopped to question whether this was a real emergency or what are the services there for or the repercussions than nuisance calls can have etc etc
One does sometimes cringe at being identified as a member of the same species.
I run an emergency Coastguard AIR Patrol Unit and was awakened at 0 plus 30 one night by a women reporting a cow on the road.
Whilst I can appreciate the problem, and her public spiritedness - what did she expect an AEROPLANE to do ? At night ? I rang the Police Road Patrol for her.
Working a 999 line must, one way or another, seriously undermine one's faith in human nature.
Absolutely. I have a friend who does it (the 000 police line here) and he's seriously warped. People ring it because their mobile phone is out of credit and they want a taxi, because they were refused entry to a nightclub, because the 7-11 is out of pies... the list goes on. He says the few genuine calls where he can make a difference makes it all worthwhile, but he's got a really jaundiced opinion about people as a group. Actually the last time I spoke to him I suggested he change jobs, because I got the feeling that it was starting to get to him.
