Thursday 22 March 2007 - 12.00hrs
As part of National Hoax Calls Awareness Week (March
24-30) Avon Fire & Rescue Service is highlighting the success
of its scheme to reduce the number of hoax calls it receives.
The service launched a scheme in August 2006 where hoax callers
using mobile phones are disconnected. The first time the phone is
used a text message is sent offering the user the chance to explain
the call. It might be that the person on the other end didn’t know
their mobile phone had been used to make a hoax call, or they felt
their call was genuine.
If a further hoax call from the same mobile number is received,
another text is sent to the phone. Again it gives the user
the chance to call and explain, but it also warns them that if they
make a third call, their phone will be cut off.
As soon as a third hoax call from the same mobile phone is
received, whether its one day, one week or one month later, a third
and final text is sent, saying that the phone will be cut
off. We then contact the mobile phone operator, who cuts the
mobile off immediately.
Between August 2006 and January 2007 we received 138 hoax calls
from mobile phones. Figures show 70 percent of the callers given
the first warning did not re-offend. To date 12 persistent callers
have so far been cut off.
Hoax calls awareness worker at AF&RS Linda Fayers said:
“Although we are heavily involved in educational programmes, which
highlight the dangers hoax calls can have to people in the
community and to our firefighters themselves, we cannot ignore the
fact that some people will continue to waste our resources and put
lives on the line by making hoax calls.
"This is what this scheme aims to tackle and we hope it will
make people think before they are tempted to make another hoax
call. Every call we receive is recorded and we are able to
trace all hoax calls - so there are no exceptions.”