THE Welsh Ambulance Service received 46 hoax calls from within Ceredigion over the five-year period between 2011 and 2016, the Cambrian News can reveal.

And the problem is on the rise, data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act shows.

The response from the Welsh Ambulance Service Trust, when asked how many hoax calls were made from within Ceredigion in each of the last five financial years, shows a general upward trend after a drop from a five-year high in 2011/12, when 13 such calls were made from 11 different phone numbers.

This fell by more than half to six hoax calls in 2012/13, before rising again to 10 in 2013/14.

After another drop to six such calls in 2014/15, the figure has risen to a four-year high of 11 hoax — also called ‘malicious’ — calls made in 2015/16.

The news comes as paramedics face unprecedented levels of demand amid a social care crisis affecting NHS Trusts across the UK.

Elin Jones AM labelled the news “unacceptable” and claimed those engaged in such activities were “reckless” and putting people’s lives at risk.

She said: “It is unacceptable that the precious time of the emergency services has been compromised in this way.

“Our emergency service personnel work hard enough as it is, and in difficult circumstances, without having their time wasted by hoax calls.

“Lives are put at risk when an ambulance is sent to a hoax caller rather than to a real emergency.

“Those that make these calls are reckless and are putting people’s lives at risk.”

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