Most 999 calls 'nuisance'

Nuisance calls accounted for 72 per cent of calls made to the 999 hotline, police said yesterday.

Of the genuine calls, only 11 per cent required a police response, a survey carried out between July and September showed.

The rest were non-emergency calls, duplicate calls and calls requiring fire or ambulance services.

Nuisance calls included false reports, dialling mistakes, testing of phones and calls made by children.

Last year, there were 301 cases of false reports or false information given.