Lincolnshire's 999 call handling team have urged the public not to hang up if they call 999 accidentally.

Lincolnshire Police record 110 silent or abandoned calls every day, according to a recent report released earlier this month.

In fact, a record 13,713 calls to 999 were made in Lincolnshire in June 2023.

While those who have made the mistake or have prank called the service many panic and hang up, this wastes more police time.

As such, the team have urged callers to stay on the line to clarify that they do not need help before ending the call.

A spokesperson for Lincolnshire Police said: "If you ever call 999 by mistake, please don't hang up. It's quicker and easier for us to clear your call by establishing you are safe and well than it is to try and track you down.

"If you put the phone down, we have to do extra work on searching for you and calling you back – this takes, on average, 20 minutes and is valuable time we can be spending helping people in need. And at this time of year, when calls into our FCR are higher than usual, we need to make sure our lines are as free as possible so the people who need us can get through."

People needing get services of the local police force only increases at this time of year, with families home from school, domestic abuse rates increasing and tourists traveling to areas like Stamford and Grantham.

As such, now is a critical time to take care when using your smart phone and to make sure that you support the local policing teams however you can.