THE number of hoax incidents attended face-to-face by London Ambulance Service (LAS) has soared by 64 per cent in the last three years, a new investigation has revealed.
Fresh figures obtained by Medical Negligence Assist have found that ambulance crews in the region have wasted thousands of hours responding in-person to more than 1,800 incidents since 2021, with figures for 2024 reaching a three-year high.
The service also revealed every area in London where hoax call-outs were made, with Newham logging 116 false incidents in the last year alone, more than any other London Borough.
It is followed by Redbridge where ambulance crews attended 79 hoax incidents face-to-face and Southwark where there were 61 reported hoax call outs in the last 12 months.
These incidents were those deemed “apparent hoaxes” by the attending ambulance crews.
In 2021, London Ambulance Service responded-person to 466 incidents that turned out to be time-wasting hoaxes, wasting a total of 511 hours of the service’s valuable time – equivalent to 21 days.
The following year, 606 face-to-face incidents were marked as hoax calls by LAS crews who wasted a further 677 hours or 25 days.
Between 2024/24, a further 764 false call outs were attended to by the service amounting to a staggering 909 hours or 37 days of wasted time in total.
Speaking on the issue in October, Darren Farmer, Director of Ambulance Operations for London Ambulance Service, said:
“Hoax calls to 999 are a criminal offence because they threaten lives. Every hoax call we attend takes valuable resources away from genuine emergencies and can delay ambulances reaching patients with a life-threatening illness or injury.
“We work with the police to prosecute where possible as this behaviour is completely unacceptable and callers can face imprisonment or a fine.
“If a caller repeatedly impacts our ability to answer calls we can stop them from connecting to emergency services for 8 hours. However, we have to treat every 999 call as genuine until we can rule it out.”
Delays in ambulance responses can potentially cost lives and if you’ve suffered harm as a result of a delay, you could claim compensation. Medical Negligence Assist provides free advice on these types of cases. They operate a free 24-hour helpline and live chat which you can access on their website.