Exasperated staff who answer 999 calls have warned lives could be at risk if nonsense calls continue.

Recent emergency calls to the county's 999 line include one caller who rang because he had run out of credit on his mobile phone and another who locked his keys in his car.

Another was to complain about a noisy party while one man asked for a lift home as he had run out of money.

Control room staff at Chelmsford, which co-ordinates 999 calls for Essex, made an appeal to the public to think before calling - as blocking a more important call could cause disaster or even death.

In a letter to the Echo, one information room worker, who asked not to be named, said: "While we are trying to deal with inappropriate calls on a 999 line, someone who is in real need of us has to wait until we can clear the misused line.

"999 is not a freephone number for those without credit on their mobile phones,.

"Nor is it a quicker way of getting your call answered for routine matters because, if your call is not urgent, you will be cleared from the line to assist someone that does need us urgently.

"The other person you are making wait could well be a member of your family needing our urgent help.

"Are you willing to risk their lives?"

He added: "In short, don't call 999 unless it is a life or death situation or a serious offence is taking place. Use us wisely, don't abuse us."

Chief Inspector Dennis Bessent, personnel manager for the information room, said operators often faced verbal abuse when trying to terminate non-urgent calls.

He said: "If an operator has to tell someone they shouldn't be calling, they invariably want to argue about it.

"Operators try to be polite but it does take them a few minutes to put the point across."

Chief Insp Bessent said the information room's operators - usually around 24 - took an average of 20,000 emergency calls a month, and around 60,000 other calls, with call rates rising steadily.

He added: "If people really don't know what to do, we don't want them to feel that they can't call.

"But people making hoax or inappropriate calls are actually risking the life of somebody else."

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