A couple called 999 about their son playing his Xbox (Picture: File)

A couch stuck in a doorway, a child who won’t get off his Xbox and a lost stiletto heel might not sound like life-or-death situations.

But these were just some of the 999 calls police received in the past year.

More than 520,000 calls – a fifth for emergencies – were made to North Wales police over the past 12 months. But only 225,000 incidents were recorded and just 46,000 were crimes.

Other nuisance ringers included a shopper who could not get through to a catalogue company, a tourist who wanted to track down a holiday romance and people complaining about takeaway orders.


Acting Supt Alex Goss said: ‘Each unnecessary call to us reduces time available for calls on genuine policing matters.

‘Phoning 999, the emergency line, for trivial matters such as being annoyed with catalogue companies is a complete waste of resources, and could possibly prevent a genuine life or death emergency call being put through.’