e.g. phone the police to fetch you a can of pop from the fridge ?

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,910...3559661,00.html

funny.
BTW...that squirrel on your avatar....what was his name again?

OMG I laughed my ass off when I read the first line. Thanks I was having a bad day this helped.

I guess you don't have to call 911 anymore, just call 999 if there are any "emergencies" like if you can't find your way to the barber shop.

That my friend is the one and only Secret Squirrel with his faithful sidekick Morocco Mole

I thought of Majikman's avatar for a brief moment....No insult, just similarities.

wow

Oh yeah, I had a girlfriend that was the supervisor of a 911 dispatch center in the states.
Unbelievable how people abused 911 (the emergency number in North America. I guess in Britain it's 999, eh?)
Anyway, Bonnie would come home nearly every day with a different tale.
People thought 911 was a clearinghouse of information: What time does the library downtown close? How many cups in a quart? Where is Bob's Printing Shop? How much will my auto license cost this year? What's the capitol of Romania? Call a tow truck, my car broke down! --- All kinds of crazy things!
I don't recall her relating anything as bad as the linked article listed, but I'm sure she heard equally weird calls.
Calling 911 (or 999) for non-emergencies is epidemic. I have no doubt that half the calls are non-emergencies. The problem is, someone with a real emergency may not be able to get through if the lines are full of such nonsense.