11:41pm UK

Friday August 06, 2010

Alan McGuinness

Sky News Online

Police in Sussex have revealed examples of ludicrous emergency calls, including one woman who became so distressed about losing her slippers she dialled 999. 

Ah! There they are... 

Another phoned up as an unexpected delivery was under way - her gerbil had gone into labour. 

Call handlers at Sussex Police expect to deal with life-threatening situations, but have recently had to field calls about smelly drains and an unsatisfactory hotel room. 

The examples of time-wasting - which occured between November 2009 and January of this year - have been released by the force to remind people only to call in cases of real emergencies.

A statement from the force said: "Every day, our communications staff can answer up to 1,000 emergency calls from the public: if you dial 999, we'll do everything we can to speak to you within ten seconds but sometimes our operators are faced with calls which don't quite come under the category of 'emergency'. 

"Just bear in mind that if your gerbil has gone into labour, you're not sure where your slippers have gone, your drains smell or you don't like your hotel room, you might want to try another route before calling the emergency services." 

A spokeswoman for the force told Sky News Online that in some cases the people calling in were physically and mentally vunerable. 

Devon and Cornwall police released a similar list in January. 

One man phoned up because his Chinese takeway was late, while a woman panicked and called police after she woke up with a duvet around her head. 

Other calls to Sussex Police included:

• A regular caller who reads out newspaper articles
• A drunk man asking for a lift home
• Someone asking for the time
• A woman phoning because her pipes had burst
• A man asking for a taxi