Police in Nottinghamshire have issued a plea for the public to use 999 responsibly after a dog owner called to discuss her pet.
According to the call record released by the police, the dog owner said: “My dog has run off and someone from the kennel has collected him and now they are charging £65 for his return. I think this is disgusting.”
Superintendent Paul Burrows, from Nottinghamshire Police’s contact management department, told Nottinghamshire Live: “The vast majority of the public understand that 999 is only for emergency calls but, despite the work we regularly do in the media, online and over-the-phone to explain to people how to use 999 responsibly, we do still receive a high number of misplaced calls to our emergency number.
“While some of the misplaced calls we receive range from honest errors of judgement to the more unusual, there is a serious point to be made here as every misplaced call our emergency call handlers receive has the potential to delay us from responding to genuine emergencies.
“All we’re asking is that people only call 999 in genuine emergencies and remember that there are other ways to contact us for less urgent enquiries, with the website and the 101 non-emergency number also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
