'My cat has just fell down two flights of stairs' and other bizarre 999 calls to ambulance service
South Western Ambulance Service is urging people to only call 999 in an emergency after they received a call about a cat who had taken a tumble.
The call was made by a member of the public in Plymouth, who had phoned up to say his girlfriend's cat had fallen down two flights of stairs.
The ambulance service has released a recording of the phone conversation to highlight the inappropriate calls they receive on a regular basis.
Recent inappropriate calls:
A woman had broken her finger
A woman wanted the telephone number for a pharmacy
A woman had no transport to a hospital appointment
The caller decided to make a hoax call
A man was blocked-in by an ambulance attending an emergency call
The ambulance service provide emergency and urgent care to a population of over 5.5 million people across the South West.
As a result, they deal with around 2,500 incidents a day but say these kind of non-emergency calls put additional pressure on their limited resources.
If you are unsure whether you should call 999 there is more advice on their website.