1649 people signed an online petition asking the UK government to educate the public on the appropriate use of the 999 “emergency” service.

“Countless hours and taxpayers money are expended upon responding to “emergencies”. Many of these calls require common sense and appropriate responses. This emergency service is suffering an increase in workload due to the potential ease of abusing it.”

In January 2008 the government responded:

Reducing inappropriate use of ambulance services is a matter for local NHS Ambulance Trusts, and a number of Trusts have undertaken work to educate their local population about appropriate use of emergency ambulance services, particularly where there has been a tendency to use the ambulance service inappropriately.

Guidance entitled Delivering the NHS Plan - Strengthening Accountability: Appropriate Use of Ambulance Services was issued to NHS Ambulance Trusts, NHS Acute Trusts, Strategic Health Authorities and Primary Care Trusts in June 2002. This covered dealing with hoax and malicious calls and inappropriate calls to the ambulance service.

Powers to prosecute people who make hoax calls are contained in Section 43 of the Telecommunications Act 1984. The guidance advises that ambulance services should work with the police to agree local policies for investigating hoax calls. The guidance is available from the Department of Health’s website at www.dh.gov.uk/publications.

This is very odd! Nowhere in the petition does it specifically mention the ambulance service, the petition was signed by police and fire service staff as well as ambulance folk.

What a load of bollocks, yet another example of great British politics. The country is run by people who can’t even read.