Malicious hoax calls to ambulance service are putting lives at risk

Between January and August, a total of 219 malicious calls were received compared to 191 over the entire 2022.

In 2021, there were 220 for the entire year and since 2017, there have been 2620 hoax calls.

This year’s malicious calls resulted in 236 vehicles being allocated, with crews spending 130 hours at these calls – an average of 33 minutes for each.

In one of the calls, a person claimed they had been stabbed, only for the crew to arrive and find no sign of any patient.

Earlier this year, a woman was fined £210 for making hoax calls to SAS, after calling ambulances when she did not require them.

Michael Dickson, SAS chief executive, said: “Anyone who calls 999 without a genuine need is putting lives at risk by diverting crews that could be needed to respond to a life-threatening incident.

“We work with the police to report malicious or nuisance callers and encourage the public to help us. Hoax calls are no joke.”

The Greater Glasgow and Clyde area experienced the highest number of hoax calls (87), responsible for almost 40 per cent of calls and 40 hours lost – which could have been used instead to respond to people who were truly in need.

The Lothian region had the second highest number of calls at 37 and 24 hours wasted. In the Forth Valley area, there were six hoax calls in total, wasting four hours of valuable time.