ITS YOUR CALL: Chief Supt Simon Willsher is appealing for people to think before they dial 999.w0270a736

RUNNING out of cigarettes may not sound like a life or death situation but it is just one of the bizarre reasons why people ring the emergency police call centre in Wakefield.
Calls from people who have run out of phone credit, need the toilet or are complaining about a neighbour's garden may sound funny but they can delay proper emergencies being dealt with.
West Yorkshire Police are appealing for people to think before they ring to ensure their call is not one of 5,500 inappropriate 999 calls taken each year.
And they said a growing number of hoax callers risk being fined or having their mobile phone barred.


Click on the links below to listen to the calls


Liverpool Airport


Tree call


Taxi request


Lost bank card


Flooded toilet


Need the toilet


Car outside house


Communications divisional commander Chief Supt Simon Willsher said: "Some of it is ignorance and some is down right laziness. It is way too high and stops us serving people who need our help.
"Our message is, 'Think before you ring'. We don't want to put people off ringing, we want to take the right calls for the right reasons because our officers regularly risk their lives helping people."
He said call volumes were increasing and it was vital to reduce the proportion of the half a million 999 calls received every year which were not real emergencies.
The most common misuse of 999 was from unattended children, people who had run out of mobile phone credit, people with mental health problems and non-english speakers who do not know who else to call.
Car crashes on motorways produce hundreds of unnecessary calls when passing drivers call on their mobiles.
Police said examples of where a 999 call should be used were traffic accidents where people were injured, where a crime was in progress or where a fight was taking place.
They stressed that the non-emergency number 0845 6060606 should be used in less urgent situations, such as those where an incident had already taken place and no-one was at risk.