INSURANCE scammers are among those being blamed for thousands of hoax calls to the emergency services across the North-East and North Yorkshire.

A series of Freedom of Information requests from the region's fire, police and ambulance services reveal that almost 21,000 hoax calls were received between 2011 and 2014.

The figures were released by Durham, Cleveland and North Yorkshire Police as well as the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS).

County Durham & Darlington Fire & Rescue Service, North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service and Cleveland Fire Brigade also responded to the requests which showed there were more than 6,000 hoax calls made in 2014 alone.

Cleveland Police received the highest number of hoax calls over the four year period - with 8,643 being recorded - while Durham Police had the highest number of hoax calls in one year, receiving 2,313 in 2013.

Cleveland Police said reasons behind hoax calls in 2014 included reporting fictitious crimes to defraud insurance companies as well as malicious callers falsely naming people as drink drivers or drug users.

NEAS, Cleveland Fire Brigade and County Durham & Darlington Fire & Rescue Service also reported losing 1,576 of staff hours across the three services because of the calls over the four year period.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) said £200m is spent every year tackling insurance fraud.

AN ABI spokesman said: “The industry is doing everything it can and is always looking to do more to tackle fraud, not just to catch the offenders, but to dissuade potential fraudsters from committing it.”

The emergency services also urged people to think twice about making a hoax call.

Tom Howard, NEAS Contact Centre Manager, said: “Hoax calls waste the time of our staff, who could be spending that time helping people in genuine need, and reduce the number of ambulances we have available for emergencies.”

Cleveland Police control room Chief Inspector, Kathy Prudom, added: “Hoax calls and inappropriate calls to the police service prevent and delay genuine emergency calls from getting through to the operators in our control room, potentially risking the lives of those who need urgent assistance.

“People ring us on 999 for all manner of things. All we would ask of anyone is that they think thoroughly about whether it is appropriate to do so before they pick up the phone and dial 999.

“Please think about the consequences that your actions could have for other people.

“Those who call us maliciously will be dealt with appropriately.”