Cops have shamed an 'idiot' commuter with astonishing audio of him phoning 999 because he was furious his BUS was late.
The clip from North Yorkshire Police features a man despairing that no buses are 'forthcoming' and even when staff point out the line was reserved for emergencies he angrily claims that it is one.
The force, who receive around 8,726 ‘999’ emergency calls and 12,278 ‘101’ non-emergency calls a month, released the footage in a bid to remind people of the importance of only dialling the numbers when appropriate.
In footage released by the force on Monday 25th July, an emergency call handler can be heard taking a call from a man complaining about that as an 'Englishman' it wasn't 'acceptable' to have to wait so long.
He said: "This is an emergency. I've been waiting hours and hours simply for a bus here in York. Nothing is forthcoming. What the hell is going on?
"I'm an Englishman. This is not acceptable."
The call handler then calmly tells the man that 'it's not an emergency if you're enquiring about buses'.
The handler said: "It's not an emergency if you're enquiring about buses. This is not an emergency, this is for a life and death situation not because your bus hasn't turned up."
The force, who have also had to handle calls relating to supermarket opening times, complaints about hair on a pizza and taxis not arriving, say it's vital that their time and resources are spent on those who are vulnerable and in need.
A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Police said: "Emergency 999 calls will always take priority, and during times of increased demand, those who are calling 101 to report non-emergencies may have to wait longer, but if phone lines are busy, please bear with us and consider using our call back function.
"Many 999 calls however are not an emergency, and so as demand is set to soar this summer, we would ask you to help us and only call 999 in a genuine emergency.
"Please don’t ring 999 because your taxi hasn’t arrived, because you’ve got a complaint about your takeaway after a night out or because you can’t get hold of the service you need.
"We are an emergency service, and it’s vital that we can respond to those who need us most.
"We take hundreds of calls every day and want to be able to deliver an exemplary service to everyone who contacts us.
"But these nuisance or misdirected calls may stop us from getting help for a vulnerable person in need so all we would ask is that you think twice before picking up the phone and ringing us on 999 if it is not an emergency."
Social media users were quick to slam the man who complained over his bus being late.
One user wrote: "Unbelievable! Some people are as thick as two short planks."
Another said: "Where do people get off being so entitled that they ring 999 because their bus hasn’t turned up - seriously."
A third added: "Oh boy there are some right idiots out there. I feel sorry for the call handlers having to deal with them."
A fourth said: "What an idiot!"
