HOAX calls to the Scottish Ambulance Service have almost doubled in the past five years, new figures show.
Malicious emergency calls rose by 84 per cent – from 881 in 2012/13 to 1,622 in 2016/17.
The figures, obtained through a freedom of information request by the Scottish Liberal Democrats, also show the number of emergency incidents rose 11 per cent in the same period to 570,354.
Party health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton warned that hoax calls to the ambulance service risk lives.
He said: "The people in our ambulance service do an incredible job which saves countless lives. The service has responded to approaching three million call-outs during the last five years and services are busier and busier. It is therefore concerning to see that hoax calls have doubled in the same time frame.
"Anyone who maliciously calls for an ambulance should be ashamed of themselves. These calls are putting lives in danger. An ambulance that is diverted to a hoax is one that is unavailable to save a life elsewhere."
A Scottish Ambulance Service spokesman said: "Anyone who calls 999 without a genuine need is potentially putting lives at risk by tying up valuable resources that could be needed to respond to a life-threatening call."
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here