A woman called 999 to demand police come and remove a ‘massive’ spider from her house.
West Yorkshire Police have posted an audio clip where you can hear the woman asking the call operator to get someone to remove the insect out of her house.
The astonishing call shows the type of time-wasting calls police forces have to put up with on a daily basis.
The woman said: “Hiya, you’re probably gonna go mad at me right but I’ve literally tried ringing everyone and you’re my last hope.
“I need someone to come and get this spider out of my house.
“It’s absolutely massive and I’m not even joking!”
The call operator responds: “Unfortunately the police wouldn’t be able to come and get a spider out of your house.”
West Yorkshire Police have urged people to not ring 999 unless it’s an emergency as they receive ‘"20 calls a day to our 999 line that are not a life or death emergency."
Social media users have also slammed the women and agreed that she ‘should be billed for wasting time’.
The Mirror told in September last year how a police force implored people to reconsider whether their situation warrants an urgent response, after revealing some of the most bizarre requests made during 999 calls.
Essex Police then criticised callers who abuse the service, explaining that dealing with time-wasting calls results in delays in responding to people in need of real help.
A few of the non-emergency requests the force had heard from in the past six months included a man who called to complain about being kicked out of a pub.
He reportedly called 999 “repeatedly” and kept asking for pizza, before hanging up.
“The only thing he got delivered to his door were two of our officers who had some stern words of advice,” a spokesperson from the force said.
Another caller was a driver on the M11 who dialled 999 to ask for a police escort because he was late home for dinner.
And another man contacted officers to ask for a lift home, after missing the bus.
In a separate call, a girl asked for help as she claimed she couldn’t find her way out of some stinging nettles.
Essex Police said last year it had deal with more than 3,000 emergency calls over the August Bank Holiday weekend.
According to control room head Chief Inspector Ian Gennery, the vast majority of those were from people facing a genuine emergency.
His team will never disconnect a call without offering advice, he said.
But he said there had been a worrying amount of calls that were not emergencies. I
In light of this, he asked people to consider if their situation warranted an urgent police response.
He said: “Do we really need to be directing officers and resources away from a domestic incident or a serious collision to come and help you?”
