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Man calls police after getting alcohol-free drink, but complaint doesn’t exactly go well
A man in England called the emergency number 999 to complain that his drink was alcohol-free, prompting a rebuke from Hertfordshire Police, who released the call recording and highlighted the misuse of the emergency line.
Man's 999 Call Over Alcohol-Free Drink Draws Police Rebuke
Police in England are urging residents to stop misusing the 999 emergency line after a man called to complain that his drink was alcohol-free.
The call, which was recorded and released by Hertfordshire Police, came from a man who had bought a pack of alcohol-free gin and tonic from a Tesco supermarket. According to the recording, the man explained he had purchased the drink from the store's alcohol section and was planning to go to a nearby park to sit and have a drink. He complained that the non-alcoholic drink was shelved alongside alcoholic beverages.
The man later returned to the store to exchange the drink for one containing alcohol, but was refused because he had already drunk one. The emergency call handler told the man the call did not warrant sending police, which made him angry.
"I'm really angry, so I'll get arrested … because I'm not having it," the man said, as reported by The Independent.
Hertfordshire Police noted this was not the only misuse of the emergency line, citing other examples such as people calling to ask the time, to book a taxi, and to report a broken microwave timer.
"While this call may seem amusing, the serious side of it is that this individual called 999 and took up the time of one of our call handlers who could have been helping someone in genuine need — potentially even a life-or-death situation," the department stated.
How each outlet told it
al.com
Framing: The headline emphasizes the absurdity of the complaint and the negative outcome for the caller, framing it as a failed complaint. — Amused but critical of the caller: the article describes the call as 'amusing' but also highlights the serious side, using words like 'misusing' and 'genuine need'.
Facts Included:
A man in England called 999 to complain that his drink was alcohol-free.
The man bought a pack of alcohol-free gin and tonic from a Tesco supermarket.
The call was recorded and released by Hertfordshire Police.
The man planned to go to a nearby park to sit and have a drink.
The man complained that the non-alcoholic drink was shelved in the same section as alcoholic drinks.
The man returned to the store to exchange the drink, but was refused because he had already drunk one.
The call handler told him the call did not warrant police response, causing him to be angry.
The man said: 'I'm really angry, so I'll get arrested … because I'm not having it.'
Hertfordshire Police cited other misuse examples: asking the time, booking a taxi, reporting a broken microwave timer.
Police statement: the call took up a handler's time who could have been helping someone in genuine need, potentially a life-or-death situation.
Framing: The headline emphasizes the absurdity of the complaint and the negative outcome for the caller, framing it as a failed complaint. — Amused but critical of the caller: the article describes the call as 'amusing' but also highlights the serious side, using words like 'misusing' and 'genuine need'.
Facts Included:
A man in England called 999 to complain that his drink was alcohol-free.
The man bought a pack of alcohol-free gin and tonic from a Tesco supermarket.
The call was recorded and released by Hertfordshire Police.
The man planned to go to a nearby park to sit and have a drink.
The man complained that the non-alcoholic drink was shelved in the same section as alcoholic drinks.
The man returned to the store to exchange the drink, but was refused because he had already drunk one.
The call handler told him the call did not warrant police response, causing him to be angry.
The man said: 'I'm really angry, so I'll get arrested … because I'm not having it.'
Hertfordshire Police cited other misuse examples: asking the time, booking a taxi, reporting a broken microwave timer.
Police statement: the call took up a handler's time who could have been helping someone in genuine need, potentially a life-or-death situation.
Framing: The headline emphasizes the absurdity of the complaint and the negative outcome for the caller, framing it as a failed complaint. — Amused but critical of the caller: the article describes the call as 'amusing' but also highlights the serious side, using words like 'misusing' and 'genuine need'.
Facts Included:
A man in England called 999 to complain that his drink was alcohol-free.
The man bought a pack of alcohol-free gin and tonic from a Tesco supermarket.
The call was recorded and released by Hertfordshire Police.
The man planned to go to a nearby park to sit and have a drink.
The man complained that the non-alcoholic drink was shelved in the same section as alcoholic drinks.
The man returned to the store to exchange the drink, but was refused because he had already drunk one.
The call handler told him the call did not warrant police response, causing him to be angry.
The man said: 'I'm really angry, so I'll get arrested … because I'm not having it.'
Hertfordshire Police cited other misuse examples: asking the time, booking a taxi, reporting a broken microwave timer.
Police statement: the call took up a handler's time who could have been helping someone in genuine need, potentially a life-or-death situation.
Framing: The headline emphasizes the absurdity of the complaint and the negative outcome for the caller, framing it as a failed complaint. — Amused but critical of the caller: the article describes the call as 'amusing' but also highlights the serious side, using words like 'misusing' and 'genuine need'.
Facts Included:
A man in England called 999 to complain that his drink was alcohol-free.
The man bought a pack of alcohol-free gin and tonic from a Tesco supermarket.
The call was recorded and released by Hertfordshire Police.
The man planned to go to a nearby park to sit and have a drink.
The man complained that the non-alcoholic drink was shelved in the same section as alcoholic drinks.
The man returned to the store to exchange the drink, but was refused because he had already drunk one.
The call handler told him the call did not warrant police response, causing him to be angry.
The man said: 'I'm really angry, so I'll get arrested … because I'm not having it.'
Hertfordshire Police cited other misuse examples: asking the time, booking a taxi, reporting a broken microwave timer.
Police statement: the call took up a handler's time who could have been helping someone in genuine need, potentially a life-or-death situation.
Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status counts the distinct outlets we found asserting it — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.
Claim
Confidence
Status
ClaimA man in England called the emergency number 999 to complain that his drink was alcohol-free.
ClaimA Hertfordshire Police statement said: 'While this call may seem amusing, the serious side of it is that this individual called 999 and took up the time of one of our call handlers who could have been helping someone in genuine need — potentially even a life-or-death situation.'