Conviction sends a message to time wasters

East Midlands Ambulance Service has welcomed the prison sentence given last month to a repeated nuisance caller to the emergency services.

A Leicester court heard how a local resident had needlessly called the ambulance service hundreds of times when under the influence of alcohol and regularly became verbally abusive and threatening to ambulance staff. The judge claimed lives were being put at risk by the caller as a result and sentenced her to one year in prison.

"Nuisance calls are irresponsible and place lives at risk," said Ambulance Service Security Expert Nick Arnold. "So we welcome the court's decision - she has endangered the lives of legitimate users of our services." It was reported that Ms Bamkin had been regularly making calls to the ambulance service with fictitious health complaints. On occasions when an ambulance was sent to her address she became aggressive and threatening - to the point where the police were being called to protect ambulance crews.

In autumn 2007 Ms Bamkin was served with an arrestable injunction to prevent her making further nuisance calls and associated threatening/violent anti-social behavior. Ms Bamkin's first breach of the injunction was in December 2007 and resulted in a four month prison term. Last month's sentencing comes as a result of a further breach.