South Yorkshire Police called over size of pizza slices in takeaway and by parent whose child refused to go to bed

In another call a complaint was made because a chip shop did not have the sauce a customer wanted and on one occasion a caller rang the force to complain that a dog had made their dog pregnant.

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Another caller rang the force to ask what number they were ringing on because they had forgotten their number.

The force is also using April Fool’s Day to urge pranksters to re-think their antics following a recent spike in nuisance calls.

Call handlers at South Yorkshire Police’s call centre, Atlas Court, deal with around 2,000 calls a day, with only half said to be genuine calls to report a crime or incident, with the others largely requests for updates on investigations, non-police related issues or hoaxes.

Superintendent Robert Chapman, Head of Communications, said: “It is incredibly frustrating for our call handlers to receive nuisance calls.

“Recently, we have had 28 silent calls in one day from an individual, which all turned out to be hoaxes.

“Every call we receive must be treated as serious, and so when faced with obvious pranks, it is a massive drain on valuable time and resources. It is frustrating that genuine callers are having to wait longer due to the increased workload nuisance calls create. The time wasted on these calls could be much better spent on genuine reports from the public.

“But, not only is it a waste of police time; misuse of 999 is a criminal offence and if you are caught making a hoax call you could be fined or even sent to prison.

“We would urge the individuals making these calls to consider the consequences of their actions, and we hope that by sharing examples of the nuisance calls our handlers deal with, we can highlight the correct way to use 101 and 999 to ensure the genuine calls to report an incident can get through.”