Hampshire police get 25,000 time-wasting calls a year

MORE than 25,000 calls to Hampshire police were time-wasting.

Around three per cent of calls made in 2015 to 999 and 101 were either malicious or deemed inappropriate.

Time-wasting calls included one person who wanted help getting a refund for a turkey.

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Other examples were a caller who saw a sad-looking dog and a complaint from a Chinese takeaway when a customer fell asleep.

About 650,000 calls were made to the non-emergency 101 number and 210,000 to 999 last year.

A Hampshire police spokesman said: ‘Those inappropriate calls are a mix. There are malicious calls, people ringing up, hanging up and people ringing up and swearing.’

Some people call up asking for help – such as to collect rubbish – when the police are not the right agency to help.

He added the problem was greater over the summer.

He said: ‘People aren’t necessarily at work, people have more free time, some people when they’re bored I guess, ring up and cause a problem.’