A woman dialled 999 to ask police if she need a licence – to own a TORTOISE.
The barmy pet owner was one of thousands of time-wasters who wrongly used the emergency number over the last 12 months.
Nottinghamshire Police also revealed a worried mum dialled 999 to complain about her son who refused to go to school.
Another person called to report a cat which was following them while a disabled pensioner dialled 999 to moan about a lorry which was blocking in her mobility scooter.
Astonishingly, one person called police despite admitting it was NOT an emergency.
They told stunned operators: “It’s not an emergency – I’ve got no credit on my phone, so I rang 999 instead of 101 because it’s free.”
Police yesterday revealed a shocking nine out of ten calls they receive are from time-wasters which are clogging up the emergency control room.
From April 2012 to March 2013, the control room took 562,246 calls. Only 68,093 of these ended up with a crime being recorded – around 12 per cent.
Assistant Chief Constable Simon Torr said the force was beginning to bear the brunt of cuts to other public services, and people who didn’t know where to turn were calling police.
He added: “People need to think appropriately and think if there are other ways of getting the information they may need.
“Our staff need to spend less time answering the same question 20 to 30 times a day, people asking ‘am I all right to park in this parking space?’ or ‘when will I need to tax my car?’”
Other time-wasting calls in the past three months included one from a man who dialled 999 to say a key had been posted through his letter box.
In March a notorious Manchester United fan who dialled 999 in March to report the referee who sent off winger Nani during the Champions League clash against Real Madrid.
The 18-year-old, from Bingham, Notts., later apologised to the force claiming he had been “caught up in the excitement” of the match.
