One in four 999 calls are real

Just one in four 999 calls received by police last year was classed as an emergency, figures showed today.

This fell to less than one in five in Britain’s biggest force, the Metropolitan Police, where less than 400,000 of the two million 999 calls needed an emergency response, figures released under the Freedom of Information Act showed.

The figures come as the Met disclosed some of the spurious 999 calls it received last Christmas Day.

One man claimed to be David Cameron calling from 10 Downing Street, while another demanded to speak to the head of the Egyptian order.