The Beast from the East didn’t just deliver flurries of snow across Scotland – it also left the country’s police centres inundated with a blizzard of inappropriate calls.
As the bad weather led to panic buying and food shortages in some communities, officers were asked if they could deliver a loaf by one caller.
Others who dialled 999 or 101 last week requested advice on how to get to the shops for cigarettes and alcohol and asked for help with a frozen gate.
There were even emergency calls that saw members of the public asking to borrow a shovel and even trying to recruit a police officer as an emergency vet.
The service was also besieged with pleas for information about road and school closures, whether buses were running and if flights were on schedule.
Police Scotland revealed yesterday that a total of 23,626 calls were made to 101 and a further 5,508 emergency 999 calls were received in the four days leading up to and including March 1.
The number using the latter service was 12% higher than in a typical four-day period.
At the height of the storms, between 8am on February 28 and 8am on March 1, police staff answered 1,892 calls to 999, which was 50% more than they would normally have anticipated.
Unsurprisingly, officers who were forced to deal with a deluge of snow-related inquiries didn’t see the funny side of the situation.
Chief Inspector Alan Gray of the Contact, Command and Control Division, based on Govan in Glasgow, said: “These types of calls are taking an adviser away from what could be an important 999 call and somebody who may need urgent assistance.
“Our service centre advisers deal with a call every 10 seconds. They are highly trained, skilled and knowledgeable and they are there to help.
“Most people contact the police appropriately. However, there is a small percentage who do not and this misuse of 101 and 999 could cost lives.”
