Man 'called 999 for lift to station', South Yorkshire Police reveal

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A man dialled 999 claiming he had been attacked and when officers responded he asked for a lift to a railway station, police have revealed.

South Yorkshire Police said another person had called the emergency number to tell police he had been to the pub and "was now in the supermarket".

The calls were among more than 5,000 received between 20 to 29 December.

Police have urged people to avoid making "unnecessary calls" to them across New Year.

The force said of the 5,471 calls made to the emergency number over the Christmas period, about 70% of which were not a true emergency.

Hoax call fine

It said a smaller proportion of those were nuisance calls from people being abusive, wanting a chat or making a false report of crime.

Tracy Potter, operations manager at South Yorkshire Police, said: "Sadly, calls such as this are not uncommon.

"I would urge people not to call 999 unnecessarily on New Year's Eve as at best they will be wasting police time.

"At worst, they could divert officers away from other genuine incidents, which could have grave consequences."

Ms Potter said hoax callers faced a £90 fixed penalty for wasting police time.