Hoax callers put lives at risk when the emergency services wasted resources searching for a phoney car crash.
Firefighters from Dunmow fire station, plus two police units and an ambulance, spent two hours searching around Bury Farm, Great Canfield, following reports that a motorist was trapped in a car in a water-filled ditch.
The Essex Police helicopter was also readied to take-off to help with the search, which lasted from midnight to 2am yesterday morning.
But no accident was discovered and police are treating the incident as a malicious hoax call.
Dunmow fire station officer Keith Gunn said: "Luckily enough we didn't have any other calls in that time, otherwise it could have been a different story.
"Anybody who makes a hoax call to the emergency services and diverts resources is potentially risking lives."
Published Monday, February 21, 2005
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