Parents urged not to leave children with their mobiles to prevent hoax calls

Parents are being urged to "keep an eye on" their mobile phones after emergency services received a number of hoax calls from children.

South Western Ambulance says at times its paramedics have rushed to people's houses only to find no-one there.

Last year it received 774 hoax calls and the service says prank calls distract crews from real emergencies.

SWAS says all emergency calls "are recorded and can be traced".

"SWAS will prosecute offenders if necessary. Last year, in 2017, 774 hoax calls were made to the ambulance service which distracted paramedics from attending 91 real emergencies."

South Western Ambulance Service Chief Executive, Ken Wenman says lives can be put at risk by people making hoax calls.

SWAS says examples of when to call 999 include choking, chest pain, stroke, serious blood loss and unconsciousness.

Listen to this example of a hoax call received by SWAS: