Nuisance caller fined for contacting our control room 72 times over two days

A woman has been hit with a fine after bombarding our force control room with nuisance calls.

The 21-year-old, of Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, appeared at the North Staffordshire Justice Centre on Thursday 30 November and pleaded guilty to abusing the 101 service.

She was arrested on Wednesday 29 November after we received 72 calls from her over 48 hours. The calls were answered by triage officers and 101 call takers and lasted just over three hours in total.

Following her arrest, she was charged with persistently making use of a public communication network to cause annoyance, inconvenience, or anxiety. After pleading guilty, she was fined £120 and ordered to pay £135 court costs.

Chief Superintendent Paul Talbot, head of contact and response, said: “The actions taken took valuable time away from our call takers and their ability to serve the public by helping people experiencing genuine emergencies.

"Our staff carry out their role in a high-pressured environment, in which every second counts, often dealing with people at their darkest hour, or lowest ebb, and work extremely hard to ensure that those who need help quickly receive it; a service that should not be taken for granted in this way.

“I hope this outcome sends out a clear message that making nuisance calls to emergency control rooms will not be tolerated.”