A Fife man who called 999 to report receiving a “rotten pizza” has been blasted by a sheriff.
Graeme Clark was told although the incident might seem humorous it had the potential to impact those trying to reach the emergency services.
During the course of the call the 58-year-old also used racial slurs.
Pizza nonsense
Fiscal depute Eve McKaig told Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court: “At three minutes past midnight the accused called the 999 service.
“He said he had ordered a pizza from a local takeaway.
“He said ‘This is totally rotten, now that’s an emergency’.
“The call handler stated this was not an emergency.
“The accused stated ‘Well some P**i bastard would kill somebody’.
“The accused continued to rant at him.”
Clark also told the call handler that he “did not care” he was misusing the service.
Petrol station abuse
In a separate incident, police were called shortly after 1am to reports Clark was causing a disturbance at a petrol station shop.
As officers arrived, Clark became aggressive towards them.
Ms McKaig continued: “The accused approached the marked police vehicle, sticking up his fingers in an abusive manner.
“Officers exited the vehicle to make contact with the accused but he ran at them, aggressively calling them c**ts.”
“He was asked to calm down but after making more racial remarks, he was arrested.”
He also spat towards one of the officers.
Prison risk
Solicitor Lewis Faulds, defending, admitted the accused – who the court heard drank up to a quarter bottle of alcohol a day – was drunk on both occasions.
He said: “The underlying denominator in both these matters is alcohol.
“There’s no excusing the severity of these offences.”
Sheriff Timothy Niven-Smith said abuse of the emergency line could have knock-on effects.
He said: “He is potentially preventing the life-saving treatment or police attendance, which is a very serious matter.
“People need to know that if they act in this way, they run the risk of going to prison.”
Referring to the second incident, he added: “The police are there to serve us, and are not there to be gesticulated at, spat at and called c**ts.”
Clark, of Coaltown of Wemyss, admitted making an offensive phone call to the 999 service from his home on July 24 last year.
He further admitted behaving in a threatening manner at Abbosthall Road, Kirkcaldy and at the town’s police station on December 6 that year.
He was paced on an 18-month supervision order.
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