Police ask people to stop calling them over rows about Halloween pumpkins

A man dialled 999 just to go on a rant about a pumpkin from Morrisons.

In a warning no one thought would ever be necessary, West Yorkshire Police released a recording of the call and begged people to stop ringing them about pumpkins.

During the confusing phone call, the livid time waster told the emergency operator he had bought a dish with four pumpkins inside it, believing they were included in the price.

A Morrisons worker apparently told them they were not, but let him keep one ‘as a gesture of good will’, before confiscating it after he continued to moan.

Clearly unaware he had been speaking uninterrupted for more than a minute, the call handler said: ‘Can I get a quick word in?

But he kept accusing the staff member of ‘theft’ because they had taken the pumpkin back.

He also told the operator how to handle the investigation, telling her to ‘check CCTV footage’ to see he was handed the pumpkin for free.

But the call handler could not care less about the man’s plight, telling him he was wasting her time on the ‘life or death emergency line’.

She said: ‘You have rung us on 999, which is a life or death emergency line, about pumpkins. It is not a life or death emergency and it is not a theft. You need to speak to Morrisons.’

Police released an animation alongside the call so the public can truly understand not to call over pumpkin spats

The call was then ended swiftly with a polite ‘bye bye’.

West Yorkshire Police said they receive 120 calls a day that are not a life or death emergency.

They said: ‘A call like this could prevent someone in a genuine emergency receiving the support they need, 999 should only be called in an emergency situation.’

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‘Staff have taken the pumpkin off of me, and that is theft.’