DIPLOMATIC INANITY

The U.K. foreign secretary lambastes British tourists for pestering embassy staff abroad with requests about everything from pest control to restaurant reservations. Consular staff in Italy were even asked to toss a good-luck coin in the Trevi Fountain on a man’s behalf,

LONDON— Troublesome tourists bombard British embassies with bizarre requests for help — seeking assistance booking restaurants, finding directions or making romantic advances toward locals, Foreign Secretary William Hague said Wednesday.

Announcing plans to bolster the response by diplomats to emergencies in other countries, Hague disclosed details of the wild demands made to embassies by travelling Britons.

A tourist in the United States called diplomats last year after he discovered ants in his Florida rental home, while a visitor to Spain requested help finding a suitable spot for Christmas lunch.

“We are not the people to turn to if you can’t find your false teeth, if your sat nav is broken and you need directions . . . if you are looking for a dog-minder while you are on holiday,” Hague said, in a speech at Brit- ain’s Foreign Office. He said a visitor to Greece had requested assistance erecting a chicken coop, while an anxious Briton urged consular staff in Italy to throw a coin into Rome’s famous Trevi Fountain on his behalf, after forgetting to do so during a holiday. According to tradition, tossing a coin into the waters guarantees a swift return to the Eternal City. “Our commitment to good relations with our neighbours does not, I am afraid, extend to translating ‘I love you’ into Hungarian, as we were asked to do by one lovestruck British tourist,” Hague said. He warned that some tourists risked wasting “time and scarce resources with ludicrous requests.” Hague announced plans to open a new crisis centre to enable Britain’s government to better handle emergencies overseas, to train more staff to respond and to set up 24-hour phone lines to offer advice to stranded British travellers.