Nuisance call has New Zealand police in stitches

A woman in a rush to get to a garden party called 111 to ask for help with her sewing.

The woman, who has not been identified, called police in Rotorua yesterday pleading for help to thread her needle.

Police northern communications told the Herald the woman claimed she needed urgent assistance so she could get to a garden party.

No one was sent as the local police lacked the necessary skill, the spokesman said.

Police and other emergency services receive thousands of nuisance and hoax calls each year including heavy breathers, people wanting taxis and those upset that their takeaway meals were bad. Last year, a bride in Christchurch, panicked by a large oil stain on her wedding dress, dialled 111 in a desperate plea for help.

Other calls have included:

* A man rang to say there were two hedgehogs fighting on his lawn.
* A woman called to get police to make her boyfriend ask for her hand in marriage.
* A man rang to say there was a cow at his letterbox - and he was scared.