Police arrest man for alleged hoax calls

A TAYSIDE man has been arrested after allegedly making multiple prank phone calls to emergency services.

The 43-year-old was spoken to by Police Scotland in connection with six false 999 calls made from a property in the Perthshire town of Dunkeld between Friday February 12 and the following Friday.

The arrest comes two months after a 48-yearold man was charged after hoax calls to the emergency services from an address in Perth.

He was reported to the procurator fiscal over two alleged hoax calls to police on December 10.

A Police Scotland spokesman said: “Hoax calls not only waste valuable resources but can endanger members of the public by diverting vital services from genuine emergencies.”

In February last year, the UK’s worst phone pest was jailed for wasting £100,000 of taxpayers’ cash by repeatedly making hoax 999 calls.

Holly Coogan, 32, was sentenced to 12 months after repeatedly calling East Midlands Ambulance Service in December 2019 while drunk.

In the same month last year, two Aberdeen youths were charged and reported to the Youth Justice Management Unit for pranking the emergency services.

Last May, a 10-yearold girl made headlines after penning a heartfelt apology to police for making a “double-dare” 999 hoax call during the pandemic lockdown.

In the note, the Tayside youngster named Mackenzie, said she was “incredibly sorry” for the April 25 hoax call.

“I understand I took people away from answering real 999 calls,” she wrote.

“I know that I should never call 999 unless it is a real emergency, no matter what other people said to me.”

Regarding the most recent incident, a Police Scotland spokesman said: “A 43-year-old man was arrested after making repeated false 999 calls between Friday 12 and Friday February 19 from an address in Dunkeld.”