'I was refused entry to a bar': South Yorkshire Police reveal strangest and most inappropriate reasons people have called 999

South Yorkshire Police receives around 800 calls to its emergency number every day, and the force is now warning of the impact of, and potential consequences to those who make, inappropriate calls to 999.

A spokesperson for the force said call handlers and dispatchers within their ‘Force Control Room work tirelessly to ensure that those in imminent danger or that have a threat to their life receive help fast’.

They said it is important that ‘999 lines and call handlers are available to take calls quickly and arrange help’.

Now, those who misuse the system are being warned of the consequences.

Superintendent of Communications Cherie Buttle says: “We are here to help people, but we need the public to understand that to be able to provide help in emergency situations our phone lines must be free to take the calls. If a call handler is speaking to a caller who is misusing the 999 service, they are not available to help a genuine caller.

“We do not tolerate those who misuse our service and will not tolerate abuse towards our staff, they do not come to work to be sworn and shouted at.”

The force said many of the 999 calls that are made are not emergencies and could have been reported via 101, online or to an alternative agency instead.

Among the inappropriate 999 calls that have been made to South Yorkshire Police over the last month is one from a man who was declined entry to a bar in Sheffield and believed the reason was inappropriate.

A woman called 999 because she was unhappy that a nail shop refused to give her a refund after complaining she was dissatisfied with her nails.

Another woman phoned the force’s emergency number crying because she ordered an iPad 11 on Amazon, and they delivered an iPad 10.

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A man dialled 999 because he wanted South Yorkshire Police to provide him with directions to a local bed and breakfast.

The force also received a call from a woman who wanted officers to go to her home and cook her some food, because she was hungry.

South Yorkshire Police receives just under 2000 calls into the force control room every day; with an average of 800 calls made to 999, and 1,000 calls to 101.

Incorrect use of the 999 service jeopardises providing help in an emergency, the force has warned.

Earlier this month a woman appeared before court charged with ‘persistently making use of a public communication network to cause annoyance, inconvenience, anxiety’ and three counts of ‘send by public communication network an offensive, indecent, obscene, menacing message’.

Chantelle Sykes, 28, of Pollard Crescent, Southey Green was charged following a series of hoax and inappropriate calls in December 2021, including one in which she called 999, claiming she had been stabbed in the leg with a kitchen knife

Sykes was sentenced to a 12-month Criminal Behaviour Order and an eight-week tagged curfew.

Supt Buttle added: “Please be ‘999 wise’ and think before you dial.”

For more information on when to call 999 or 101 please visit our website: https://www.southyorkshire.police.uk/contact-us/report-something/