Hoax callers will be cut off by fire service

Two malicious calls from the same mobile number will see West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service contact the phone's provider to request the disconnection.

The companies have an agreed policy with the service to the request to leave the person responsible without their mobile.

The no-nonsense approach has seen a dramatic reduction in the number of time-wasting calls to the fire and rescue service this summer.

The 14 hoax calls received in the Arun district in June plummeted to just one in July.

If the trend continues, it should have a dramatic impact on the annual number of such calls. Time-wasters in Bognor were responsible for one in ten of the 372 hoax calls received by the fire and rescue service in the year to March 2008.

Hoax calls made from landlines are reported to the phone provider. The fire and rescue service obtains the address and visits the property to speak to the person concerned.

For mobiles, each hoaxer receives a text from the service after one call asking them to stop. Failure to do so results in disconnection.

Phone boxes which are used for hoax calls can be identified on the 999 phone system and through electronic data.

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