London, Dec 30 (ANI): A woman called up the emergency number 999 because her cat was playing with a ball of string and irritating her.he women can be heard telling the operator that her cat was playing with the ball of string and "doing her head in".

She said it was an emergency because it had "been going on for two hours now".

And a motorist dialled 999 because he was afraid to move his icy car, which was parked on an icy road.

The Greater Manchester Police revealed these wasteful calls and called on the public to refrain from making such calls to 999.

The GMP disclosed that 999 received 1,377 999 calls between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day out of which only a few were genuine cases.

"Following the introduction of new telephony technology earlier in the year, we are now answering calls in an average time of five seconds for 999 emergency and 15 seconds for the non-emergency calls," the Telegraph quoted superintendent Karan Lee, head of the force's call handling, as saying.

Lee said: "However, we are still expecting a high volume of 999 calls on New Year's Eve."

Lee continued: "Research tells us that a very high percentage of these will not actually be related to an emergency.

"I urge people to think first and only dial 999 in an emergency, where there is threat to life or property, so that we can focus on the real emergencies."

She added: "Silly pranks can have a major impact on members of the public who need the police.

"I don't want a person to call 999 and be delayed because someone else is calling to report something that is not an emergency or, worse still, a deliberate joke." (ANI)