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Police chiefs have issued a warning after a man in a bar dialled 999 to complain that his wine was corked.

The caller claimed staff wouldn’t give him a refund – and asked officers if they could sort it out.

The man was warned about inappropriate calls to the emergency services and told he could be fined.

The man was in a bar in Manchester’s Northern Quarter when he dialled ‘999’ and asked for police

Insp Phil Spurgeon said “He said he was having a dispute with staff because they would not give him a refund because his wine had bits of cork in it.

“They were trying to eject him because he was being difficult.

"We did not send anyone. The man was given advice.

"“These types of call tie up the emergency service lines.

"While a call handler is dealing with a call like it, someone else could be facing a real emergency.

"People who dial 999 for inappropriate reasons could find themselves being fined.”

(Image: PA)

GMP said it dealt with an average of 3,571 emergency and non-emergency calls a day during April, May and June. The figure however increased by more than 19 per cent in July.

One woman rang to complain about maggots in her bin and a man called to say a motorist had stolen his car park space.

Diane Grandidge, GMP’s business lead for call-handling, said at the time: “Apart from potentially putting somebody’s life at risk, misusing the 999 system is a criminal offence and we have the power to prosecute people for making hoax calls.

“Each day we receive dozens of calls about issues that the police are not responsible for such as noise nuisance, stray dogs and abandoned cars."