Police have hit out at the public who block up their 999 number with non-emergency calls, after a man rang up complaining an animal groomer shaved his dog rather than give it the trim he wanted.
The Met Police released a recording of the unnamed man phoning in his trivial issue to its switchboard, which it says is there for serious crimes or a traffic collision where people are injured.
It tweeted the conversation in a bid to educate the public and free up its telephone service – saying wasteful calls could “prevent others who are in danger from getting through to us”.
In the conversation, a Met operator can be heard saying: “Hallo, police, what’s your emergency?”
The man said: “Hallo, em, I’m having this dispute between a dog grooming place ... What happened is that I took my dog there to get him a grooming, and I specifically told the person I do not want shaved, I want him to be trimmed.
“However, that person has shaved my dog ..” The recording then cuts off abruptly.
The Met captioned its tweet: “Outraged by a fox walking outside or your dog being shaved instead of trimmed? #ThinkBeforeYouDial 999. Calling 999 when a crime is not an emergency may prevent others who are in danger from getting through to us”.
A further Met tweet with a video detailed a woman who phoned 999 to say she had an intruder in her house, with the post showing officers being dispatched to the scene to “potentially save lives”.
