Woman who dialled 999 more than 850 times jailed and ordered to pay compensation

A woman who dialled 999 more than 850 times without a genuine reason, and hurled abuse at call handlers, has been jailed for 12 weeks and ordered to pay compensation to the emergency services.

Tracey Ford, 48, was even reported to police by neighbours, who heard her “shouting and swearing down the phone at all hours” at a telephone box near her home, Basildon Magistrates’ Court heard.

Prosecutor Sam Doyle said call records suggested Ford was “often intoxicated” while making calls from the phone box and on a mobile phone.

Ford, of High Barrets, Pitsea, Essex, was found guilty at an earlier hearing of three offences of persistently using the public communication network to cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety between February 2018 and January this year.

Essex Police said she made a total of 407 calls to the force and a further 466 calls to the East of England Ambulance Service.

Ford was jailed on Thursday and ordered to pay compensation of £100 each to the ambulance and police service.

Ms Doyle said that during calls Ford was “aggressive, she’s shouting and asking questions like ‘what are you doing to help people living on their own?'”.

She described Ford as “somebody who willingly and persistently misuses the 999 system”, adding that her behaviour was “having a significant impact on the emergency services which impacts on the public”.

The calls to the ambulance service alone cost in the region of £22,000, the court heard, and the police control room was forced to block her number.

Ford claimed at interview that she called police as the force “didn’t do anything” about a previous break-in at her home.

She said she “paid tax during her previous work as a taxi driver so it was her right to use the service”, Ms Doyle said.

“Her statements suggest she’s often intoxicated and shouting over call handlers, who are trying to get to the bottom of why she’s called,” Ms Doyle added.

Ford was jailed for 12 weeks. She was also given a five-year criminal behaviour order, meaning she must get a third party to contact emergency services to report any minor crime or illness.

It also bars her from using offensive or abusive language in calls, and forbids her from dialling 999 unless in a genuine emergency.

Alexander Deacon, mitigating, said Ford has since stopped making the calls, adding: “She does appear to have learned her lesson.”

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