TRUE OR FALSE?

Let me start by saying that in no way shape or form do I condone the malicious people who make hoax 999 calls to our emergency services at the cost of, not only, great financial expense but sometimes at the expense of life. However that said I had to have a chuckle at these individuals who did call for 'back up'. Something for which I feel quite guilty as part of me thinks whilst there was nothing malicious in their intent and, other than wasting the time of the emergency service operator, they were causing no real harm but, on the other hand, supposing by them wasting this time someone with a real emergency was not able to get through to make that all important emergency call? A lot of if's and but's I'm sure you'll agree and so it was after much thought that I decided to go ahead with this post.

Some of these were actual calls received by emergency service operators ...... or were they? All you have to do is decide which ones (if any) are true and which (if any) are false. Answers at the bottom of this post tomorrow.

(1) A 46-year-old teacher from London complained to a 999 operator that her dog was barking too loudly and wagging it's tail too quickly and she was fed up with it, could they suggest how to make it stop.

(2) The operator at an emergency call centre wasn't sure what to say when a 76-year-old gentleman from Swansea called. He was complaining the children in the playground at the school opposite his house were making too much noise. "I opened my window, and now I can't hear the telly," he told her. "Um, close the window," she suggested.

(3) When a woman couldn't get through to a tv show (Strictly Come Dancing) to place a vote for her favourite (actor, Tom Chambers) in the final, she called 999 to complain.

(4) In July 2008, 15 people called 999 to report UFOs they'd seen in the sky over Cornwall. It turned out the spectacle was a laser show, part of a concert.

(5) When a woman in Florida, USA, called the emergency operator saying she was stuck in her car with the window up in a car park, the 911 operator's advice was "Unlock the door, and pull up the handle."

(6) A man phoned Devon and Cornwall police in December 2008 to complain that his Chinese takeaway meal was late. He told the operator "I want you to prosecute the takeaway for ripping me off."

(7) A pet owner in Manchester told a 999 operator in December that her cat was "doing her head in," because it was playing with a ball of string. She stressed that it was an emergency because it had "been going on for two hours."

(8) A police officer in Michigan, USA, who ate a lump of marijuana he'd confiscated and kept after making an arrest, called the operator and confessed everything. Among his garbled sentences, he told the 911 operator: "We made brownies, and I think we're dead."

And now, as promised - THE ANSWERS.

Apart from numbers 1 and 2 which are false, the rest are true.