A woman called police claiming she had been “mugged off” by a takeaway company after they delivered a mushroom pizza instead of a meat feast.
The call was released by Essex Police as part of a new campaign to try and tackle inappropriate calls to emergency services.
In the recording, the woman tells the call handler: “I’ve been mugged off by a f****** takeaway would you believe it.
“I rung up for a number 18 meat feast and she’s trying to tell me nah, you ordered a number eight.
“I’m allergic to mushrooms so I know for a fact I didn’t order a number eight right, and I’ve got a pica sat here with f****** mushrooms on it that I can’t eat. £11.99 later and she doesn’t want to help me out or nothing.”
When told by the call handler that she should contact the takeaway directly, she said: “Well I tried to do that but she reckons she’s the manager.”
According to Essex Police, it receives 400 hoax of inappropriate emergency calls per month including one woman who called to complain that her Nando’s chicken was undercooked.
Superintendent Kevin Baldwin who heads up the force’s control room said: “There’s nothing that frustrates my team more than picking up the phone on a 999 call only for it to be a call which plainly isn’t an emergency and is sometimes a deliberate hoax.
“This is a very busy time of the year where we are working flat out, so answering a 999 call made by someone who should have a bit more common sense isn’t just infuriating, it could risk the life of someone who really needs us but can’t get through.”
Additional reporting by PA.
