A PIZZA shop customer who dialled 999 to complain about waiting for his food has been called out by fed-up police officers.

Essex Police revealed how a man also called the lifeline number to ask what the time was, amid an appeal to residents to not misuse the service.

The force said its control room’s call handlers took almost 500 calls via 101, the phone number for reporting non-emergency crime, on Friday.

A further 987 calls were made to the police using 999, with 93 per cent of those answered in five seconds as the police responds to new targets set by the Home Office.

But of those almost 1,000 calls, only 230 were graded as an emergency, the force stated.

Among the callers was a customer in a pizza shop calling the police to complain he had been waiting half an hour for his food, while another man called to inquire about what time it was.

The police stated the force control room, which operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, has about 270 staff ready to take calls and time is of the essence.

Chief supt Stuart Hooper, Essex Police’s head of contact management, said: “I’d like to thank those people who contacted us yesterday [Friday] through the channel that was most appropriate for their call.

“By doing so, you are freeing up our call handlers so that they can provide an almost instant response for people who find themselves in a real emergency and need to dial 999.

“Calling 999 must be a last resort and you should only use this service if you are reporting an emergency that requires an immediate and urgent police response.”

A police spokesman urged those considering calling 999 to consider if they believe it is a police issue or if another service would be better suited.

He added: “It might be a gloomier start to Saturday, but with the sun expected to come out later in the day and major events like Creamfields South music festival continuing, we expect demand to remain high.”