West Yorkshire Police reveals inappropriate 999 calls about sleep and takeaways made during one night

West Yorkshire Police revealed the nature of the inappropriate calls which were made in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The force took to social media to explain that one man had called 999 to report that he had ordered a takeaway but a cash machine had taken his card so he was "not happy" that he couldn't pay for his takeaway.

The force asked its Twitter followers, "what are the police meant to do?!"

Another 999 call reported an hour later was from a caller who couldn't sleep because of the noise of the rain.

In both instances the force hashtagged "#Not999" to make it clear these were not appropriate uses of the emergency phone line.

The West Yorkshire Contact Management Centre tweeted: "Just had a 999 call.

"Male has ordered a takeaway, gone to bank machine and its taken his card and wont let him withdraw money or give card back.

"Not happy he now can't pay for takeaway.

"What are the police meant to do?! #Not999."

And: "Now had someone on 9's saying they can't sleep due to the sound of the rain...... #Not999"

Police also pleaded for people not to ring them to advise on what they think is best regarding Covid regulations, having had a caller do this on their non-emergency line.

The police force tweeted: "Please don't ring us to advise what you think is best when it comes to #Covid regulations. Least it wasn't on 999...."

Some more ridiculous calls received by the emergency call handlers are revealed here, including one caller who rang 999 to ask if the barbers was open, and another who rang to tell a joke that "wasn't even funny".