Asbo to stop 999 hoaxer who pretends to be dying

A drunk who lies in the road and feigns heart attacks has been given an anti-social behaviour order barring him from making hoax 999 calls. Derek Francis Sergeant, 51, of Shadsworth House, Dunoon Drive, made at least 35 phone calls to the ambulance service between March and September, often lying down in the middle of the road pretending to be having a heart attack. In one week, between September 1 and 6, he rang the ambulance service 17 times.

Police and staff at the North West Ambulance Service believe the actual number of bogus call-outs from Sergeant is more than 70 and have estimated the total cost to the taxpayer at £14,000. Many incidents have not been logged because of panicked members of the public seeing Sergeant play-acting on the Shadsworth estate and ringing 999, genuinely believing he is having a heart attack. When crews arrive, he either walks off swearing and gesticulating or is taken to hospital while verbally abusing the ambulance staff.



Each time he is thoroughly assessed and either walks out of the hospital or is given the all-clear and discharged. The five-year ASBO was granted in his absence after Sergeant failed to turn up to the hearing at Blackburn Magistrates’ Court. The order bans him from using insulting or abusive behaviour towards members of the public, including employees of emergency services. It also prevents him from being drunk in a public place in Blackburn with Darwen in a bid to ‘nip the problem in the bud’ before he makes the 999 calls. And, thirdly, he cannot contact the emergency services unless he has genuine need to do so.

PC Louise Briggs said the burden of enforcing the ASBO would fall on the police and that the order was necessary to protect emergency services staff. She said: “We cannot say that he can’t ring 999 because he might have a legitimate need and we have a duty of care. But, for example, if he rings five times in one day and each time he is given the all clear, then the CPS will decide if that is a breach of his ASBO and a criminal offence.” PC Briggs said each ambulance call-out costs £197 and that every time he is taken to Royal Blackburn Hospital with phantom chest pains, it involves seven members of health staff.