You won't believe what someone called Nottinghamshire Police about

"The taxi driver wouldn't put the light on so I could see inside my handbag to pay. I emptied it out on to the seat and now I've lost my vapor pen."

By The Newsroom

Published 16th Sep 2018, 13:40 BST

Updated 16th Sep 2018, 14:47 BST

That's the latest 'emergency call' Nottinghamshire Police has received.

In the past few weeks alone, people have dialled 999 to ask the force's control room to book them a taxi, give advice on issues with rats in their property, talk to them about lost property, let them know about train timetables and even find out when their car insurance is due to expire.

A Nottinghamshire Police spokesperson said: "These calls to the force's emergency 999 call handlers take its dedicated team away from dealing with genuine emergencies, meaning they can't be at the end of the phone when people really do need them the most.

"By only calling 999 in a genuine emergency, you can help to ensure the force's emergency call handlers can be on-hand when people really do need them."