A man has been arrested on suspicion of misuse of the 999 system. 

Officers were sent to an address in Chippenham town centre on Thursday (29/10) following numerous calls being made to police via 999. 

The caller – a man in his 60s – had initially been issued with a Community Protection Warning (CPW) in a bid to stop the flood of calls, however, the calls continued. 

At the address, officers located four mobile phones which were seized as part of police enquiries.

Following the CPW, the man was arrested on suspicion of misuse of the 999 system and taken to Melksham custody for questioning where he remains. 

Sgt Rich Marshall said: “Misuse of the 999 system is a serious offence and could have devastating consequences. Calling any emergency service via 999 when you are not in an emergency situation could mean that others who may need urgent help are unable to get through.

"Just think how this would make you feel if you or a loved one needed help.

“We will not tolerate the misuse of our 999 system – our call handlers work extremely hard under often difficult circumstances to ensure the public receive the help they need and they should not have to deal with hoax calls.”