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999 plea after woman's escaped hamster call
Ben Bailey03.07.09
Police released a recording of a woman who dialled 999 to say her hamster had escaped as they pleaded with the public today to use the service only for genuine emergencies.
South Yorkshire Police said eight out of 10 of the emergency calls made to its Sheffield control room do not require urgent attention.
In one call a woman tells the operator: "It's my hamster. It's got out of its cage. It's gone into the bathroom and it's gone down into the floorboards."
The call handler says "your hamster?" and the woman carries on: "Is there any chance anyone could come and help me get it out?"
In another call, a man is heard to ask for help because a swarm of wasps has landed in his garden.
Superintendent Rob Odell said the force received around 15,000 999 calls a month which it does not regard as an emergency.
He said his operators have even taken calls from people who have run out of credit on their mobile phones.
"Every second counts in saving someone's life, preventing injury or catching a criminal," said Mr Odell.
"You never know when it could be you in desperate need of help and the last thing you need is to lose vital seconds or minutes because someone has called 999 to order a taxi.
"We've worked hard to reduce our average response time to emergency calls to just eight seconds, but our service could be improved even further if people did not waste our time when phoning 999."
Mr Odell said the 999 service should be used only if a life is at risk or someone is being physically threatened, if a crime is in progress and the offenders are still nearby or if a road accident is causing an ongoing danger.
Reader views (11)
some of the 999 calls i have taken over the years are beyond belief e.g.
"i have just dipped my finger in some jam and licked it then remembered i had just picked my nose, can you send an ambulance to check me over "
"can you send an ambulance to outside my house , there is a drunk man sleeping and he needs to be pushed into the shade so he doies not get sunburn"
"can i have an ambulance please , i have a rash on my hand thats been there for a month, the doctor refuse to come out as he says its not an emergency"
" i have just found this mobile phone and dialled 999 so you can tell me its number"
- A Calltaker, London UK
It is the UK---nobody will ever be prosecuted for anything. Thus, the highest crime in the EU
- Ruckus, Myrtle Beach USA
These calls are stupid , if it wasnt bad enough that imature teens are calling the police as a prank , but now we have idiotic adults calling the police about stuff like a hamster escaping. These people need to get a GRIP and mabey think about locking the cage next time . People need to learn that calling 999 about issues such as this is imoral . 999 is for serious emergency's , when people make these calls do they not realise that someone could be getting attacked or there house could be on fire and they cant get through to the emergency services .
- Paul, Scotland
"Mr Odell said the 999 service should be used only if....a crime is in progress and the offenders are still nearby" Not where I live, it isn't. Phone 999 when a gang of youths is running rampage through the area and all you get is a whole load of questions about yourself and the police turning up over an hour later. I agree with Chris, however....maybe a fixed penalty for frivolous calls might help. Alternatively, why not a seperate number for such calls with half the proceeds going to fund the air ambulance service?
- Steve, London
A swarm of wasps sounds like an emergency to me... Or do they want me to call them only AFTER I walk into the graden and meet the wasps?
- Max, London
It would help too if there were an easy to remember number for non essential calls - for example 113 to match the international emergency number 112. Then there would be no excuse.
- Hughie, Woking, UK
I totally agree that these calls shouldn't happen however what happened to the national number that was supposed to be available to people who need to contact the police with a matter of concern that is not a 999 emergency.
- Mike M, Bedford England
I can remember, a few years ago, of a young child who made a 999 call when she caught her young brother cheating at Scrabble. You can expect children to do things like that occasionally, but a grown woman? That´s a bit too much. I hope the authorities came down hard on her.
- Graham Rodhouse, Helmond, Netherlands
A hamster? One whole hamster?? Close the borders, seal the ports, let nobody leave the country. This could be the end of civilization as we know it!
- Graham Rodhouse, Helmond, Netherlands
To be fair to the hamster-owner (& I love mine too), one does read of the fire brigade rescuing cats stuck up trees- so why not hamsters stuck under floor-boards? Discrimination in favour of cats?
- Hamster-Lover, colchester
Isn't wasting police time a criminal offence? Maybe the 999 controllers should pass details of inappropriate calls together with details of phone numbers to a team who can raise penalty charges... £50 a call should do it!
- Chris, London
