Police 'faked 999 calls' to meet phone-answering targets

THE police force investigating the attack on Abigail Witchalls made bogus 999 calls to itself to boost flagging answering statistics, it was claimed last night.

After a busy night in which call response targets were missed, Stephen Andrews, an emergency call-taker, said he was told to go outside and use his mobile phone to make the 999 calls. Each time the call was answered immediately, the response targets for the day improved.

Mr Andrews said senior officers at Surrey Police ordered him to make the calls when they realised they would not be able to meet their target of answering 90 per cent of all 999 calls within ten seconds.

"When things calmed down in the early hours, my supervisor told me to go outside and use my mobile to dial 999 and then hang up when answered," he said. Mr Andrews, from Horndean, Hampshire, worked as a call handler for the force and left last September on an ill-health pension, after almost 25 years employed by the force.

Surrey Police said it was taking Mr Andrews' allegations "very seriously".