Woman Phones 999 To Complain About Mushrooms On Her Takeaway Pizza

1 August 2018, 13:02 | Updated: 1 August 2018, 13:09

A woman phoned 999 to complain that she’d been “mugged off” by a takeaway company after receiving a pizza with mushrooms on it.

The astonishing recording is just one of 400 hoax or inappropriate calls received by Essex Police every month - with the figure increasing in the summer.

The phone call begins with the emergency operator asking the woman if everything is ok.

She replies: "Yeah, no, I've been mugged off by a f****** takeaway would you believe it.

"I rung up for an 18, a number 18 meat feast and she's trying to tell me nah, nah you ordered a number eight.

"I'm allergic to mushrooms so I know for a fact I didn't order a number eight right, and I've got a pizza sat here with f****** mushrooms on it that I can't eat, £11.99 later she doesn't want to help me out or nothing."

The call has been released as part of a campaign to give the force more time to fight crime.

In other examples, people have dialled 999 after spotting a bull in a field and to complain about a police helicopter.

Superintendent Kevin Baldwin, who heads up the force’s control room said: “There’s nothing that frustrates my team more than picking up the phone on a 999 call only for it to be a call which plainly isn’t an emergency and is sometimes a deliberate hoax.

“This is a very busy time of the year where we are working flat out, so answering a 999 call made by someone who should have a bit more common sense isn’t just infuriating, it could risk the life of someone who really needs us but can’t get through.”