WILTSHIRE Police are asking parents to explain to their children the importance of calling 999 in an emergency only.

The force have released two recordings of a young girl making two prank calls to the police just 90 minutes apart.

On both occasions the girl claims she is being kidnapped but because police have a duty to respond a unit was sent out both times, potentially wasting resources.

A Wiltshire Police spokesman said: “As we have a duty to protect the public, every call we receive will be investigated and enquiries carried out before we confirm it is a hoax.

“In this case, a call operator established the telephone box the child was calling from and sent a unit to attend and make enquiries, all was in order.

“Ninety minutes later, the same child called back with the same complaint from the same phone box. Due to the seriousness of the crime she was reporting, another unit was sent out to attend.

“These were both hoax calls and wasted a considerable amount of police time and resources.

“Please spend a few minutes talking to your children about the importance of only calling 999 in an emergency. We will always be at the end of the line for the public, but occupying a line for a non-police matter could delay someone who really needs help getting through.”

All this week Wiltshire Police are running a campaign to highlight the importance of calling 999 and 101 only when appropriate.