Woman tells 999 operator: 'Help, I'm scared of spiders'

A woman scared of spiders who rang 999 to get police to take the creature out of her home has topped a poll of ridiculous emergency calls.

The list of daft emergency calls has been released by Essex Police to mark the 70th anniversary of the 999 system.

A staggering one in 10 emergency calls are either hoaxes or not about emergency situations.

At tenth spot in the embarrassing poll is callers who rang 999 asking for the number of Crimestoppers so they can report minor crimes.

Ninth in the hall of shame was a woman who dialled police because she was walking home alone after a night out and fancy a chat.

In the cringeworthy top ten the eighth spot was a caller who rang to say 'I can't get a taxi home and I've got no credit. Can you phone one for me or give me a lift?' and in seventh place is a woman who said she had no money and wanted police to give her a lift home.

In sixth place was a call from a man ringing for advice after his wife mistakenly got on the wrong bus while out shopping and ended up in Romford.

In fifth spot was a person who dialled 999 to ask what time a fireworks display was taking place and fourth were animals lovers who called to report a parrot stuck up a tree and a hamster trapped behind a wardrobe.

The third most memorable time wasting call was a person who rang 999 to ask what the weather would be like the next day because they wanted to have a picnic.

In second spot was an exasperated mum who called the police because her son refused to get out of bed.

Topping the hall of shame in first place was a terrified woman who called emergency crews asking them to come to her home and put out a spider which was scaring her.

Chief Inspector Nick Lee of the communications division said: "These calls may seem amusing but the callers are clearly misusing the 999 facility.

"We are using the anniversary of the system to get the message across that by making hoax calls, hanging up, or by using the service for anything other than its function holds up callers with genuine emergencies.

"The public should only be calling 999 in emergency situations. These include where a person has been seriously hurt or about to be seriously hurt and situations which require immediate police action, fore example a crime in progress or one that has just occurred or a road crash with injuries".

Police said of the more than 13,000 999 calls they answered in the past year 10 per cent were not genuine and warned anyone wasting their time they could be prosecuted.