POLICE trying to crack down on misuse of the emergency 999 system have released details of the worst calls their Warrington switchboard has received in the last month.

Their current favourite - although a waste of police time and money - was a young child who telephoned from a telephone box in the town wanting to report a fight in a chip shop.

He asked police to come quickly, because the fish were getting battered.

Cheshire police reckon they will have to deal with 100,000 hoax and unnecessary calls this year, blocking the lines for genuine callers and creating potentially dangerous situations.

Most of these calls will be from people who simply don't think.

Sgt Colin Russell of Warrington Police said: "Every call has to be logged and sent to us to deal with, and people would be surprised how long it can take to process them."

Other time wasting 999 calls include an elderly woman reporting the loss of her pension book, someone wanting advice on making a complaint against their local Spar shop and a lady who wanted to report that a stray dog had followed her home and now wouldn't go away.

"We also have numerous calls from people wanting to be put through to Warrington police station," added Sgt Russell.

"And people often phone us asking about the railway timetables."

Posters telling people "Get it right - does it need a blue light?" will appear across the county later this month.

And British Telecom will include the numbers of all local police stations in its next directory.

Police spokesman Ivor Williams said: "We want people to ask themselves is this an emergency?"

For general calls, the Warrington police number is 01925 652222.

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