Investigation launched to find 'abhorrent and malicious' hoaxer after 999 call to baby trapped in Northamptonshire 'smash'

Northamptonshire's 999 services condemned an "abhorrent and malicious hoaxer" who reported a baby trapped in a four-vehicle crash.

Three crews of Firefighters and parammeics from East Midlands Ambulance Service paramedics were scrambled following the call to Northamptonshire Police control room at around 12.25pm on Saturday (July 11).

The firefighters — two appliances from Irthlingborough and one from Kettering — arrived at the scene within minutes but discovered there had been no crash and the call was a fake.

A spokesman for Northamptonshire Police said the call was an "absolutely abhorrent, wasteful and malicious waste of time," adding an investigation was already under way in an effort to trace its source.

Saturday's hoax call which sent emergency services scurrying to Churchill Way in Burton Latimer, is not the first of its kind in the area during recent weeks.

Last month, an air ambulance was summoned after a 999 call from a person claiming he had been stabbed in Kettering Town centre.

Each air ambulance mission costs an estimated £1,700 and the charity relies solely on donations with no government funding.

Northampton magistrates later gave Andrew Barrett, aged 54, of Kettering, an 18-month conditional discharge after he admitted wasting police time.

A spokesman for Northampton Fire & Rescue said: "Hoax calls waste valuable time and resources which could be needed at real emergencies where lives are in danger.

"We would urge people to think twice about the impact their hoax call could potentially have."