A woman who called 999 to report the theft of her snowman has been given a slap on the wrist for wasting police time.
The woman was reportedly upset because her snowman had pound coins for his eyes and teaspoons for arms. Despite admitting that she doesn’t live in the nicest area of Chatham, the woman said that until today snowmen had always been safe.
Police reported that the woman called 999 and told the operator: “There’s been a theft from outside my house.
“I haven’t been out to check on him for five hours but I went outside for a fag and he’s gone.”
The operator, wondering if the woman’s child had been kidnapped, asked her who had gone, to which the woman replied: “My snowman. I thought that with it being icy and there not being anybody about, he’d be safe.”
Being a bit slow on the uptake, the police operator then queried if it was an ornament.
“No, a snowman made of snow,” replied the woman. “I made him myself.”
“It ain’t a nice road but at the end of the day, you don’t expect someone to nick your snowman, you know what I mean?”
A police spokesperson said: “This call could have cost someone’s life if there was a genuine emergency and they couldn’t get through.
“It was completely irresponsible. We have spoken to her and advised her what is a 999 call, and this clearly was not.”
