Woman who made 200 999 calls in two weeks because she was ‘bored and didn’t care about anyone else’ delayed ambulance on its way to child suffering cardiac arrest
- Victoria Cross, 22, told handlers she ‘didn’t care about anyone else’ during calls
- When her number was blocked, she bought multiple sims to continue pestering
- She caused a one minute eight second delay for kid who went into cardiac arrest
Victoria Cross, 22, dialed 999 200 times between Christmas and New Year
A woman who made hundreds of 999 calls because she was ‘bored’ and didn’t ‘give a s***’ delayed emergency staff on route to treat a child having a heart attack.
Victoria Cross, 22, dialled 999 200 times between Christmas and New Year, telling call handlers she didn’t care about anyone else and was going to ‘keep ringing until 5am’.
One of her nuisance calls led to a one minute eight second delay for a child in cardiac arrest.
Staff were obliged to keep taking her calls on the off-chance she had an emergency.
When asked repeatedly what her emergency was, she replied: ‘I don’t need an ambulance, I’m ringing because I’m bored.’
She added: ‘I don’t care about anyone else. I only care about myself.’
When her number was blocked, Cross bought multiple sim cards for her mobile phone so she could continue to pester East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMA).
Cross, from Moira, Leicestershire, was ordered to pay £165 in fines and given a conditional discharge for 18 months at Leicester Magistrates’ Court.
She was reported by EMA, who also took action against another time waster, Thomas Exhall.
Exhall, who was often intoxicated and verbally abusive towards call-handlers and ambulance crews who attended him, cost the NHS a total of £24,883 when he rang 344 times between December and April last year.
He appeared at Mansfield Magistrates’ Court on January 14 where he denied making the calls and abusive behaviour.
Exhall was found guilty by magistrates, given a six-month conditional discharge, and ordered to pay £400 in compensation to EMAS.
The ambulance service said he would often discharge himself from hospital and ring 999 or 111 again when he arrived at home.
Deborah Powell, Frequent Caller Lead for EMAS, said: ‘We are pleased that we have had two successful prosecutions after a lot of hard work.
‘We would urge people again to make the right 999 call and only phone us in a life-threatening emergency.
‘Our staff come to work to save lives and help people, not to be abused.
‘We will continue to work with police to prosecute those who misuse our service to ensure that the support is there for those who need it in a real medical emergency.’