999 Calls (Hoax Calls)

HC Deb 19 February 1958 vol 582 cc146-7W

68. Mr. Llewellyn

asked the Postmaster-General how many hoax calls of 999 are received in any one year.

Mr. K. Thompson

We do not know how many of the 999 calls which we connect to the emergency authorities turn out to be hoax calls, but something like 150,000 calls a year are stopped before connection. Almost all of these are made by children playing in kiosks or as a result of mistaken use of the apparatus.