AN argument over putting bacon on a turkey, the wrong change in a kebab shop, a snowball fight and a squabble over sandwiches.

All were 'emergencies' reported to Cheshire Police via 999 calls over the Christmas period.

A Freedom of Information request by the Warrington Guardian has highlighted the frequency of time-wasting calls made to the force.

On Christmas Eve, police were called by a man owed money by a casino, and a man annoyed at being refused service at a flower stall.

Further unnecessary 999 calls happened on Christmas Day, with a brother and sister arguing over a lack of an invitation to dinner.

On Boxing Day, a dad was annoyed with his son for drinking his Christmas present, a bottle of brandy.

And on New Year's Day, a resident complained about fireworks being let off at midnight.

There was also a raft of hoax calls, and incidents of children playing with phones.

John Dwyer, Police and Crime Commissioner for Cheshire, said anyone who knowingly wastes police time should be 'ostracised'.

He said: "999 calls should be made only by people who have an urgent need for police assistance.

"There are a small number of people who abuse this facility and use it for minor issues which frankly are of no consequence.

"It is time that these people realised their selfishness is potentially denying a response to people who have a genuine urgent policing need.

“We should tackle people who abuse the system and report the incidents that beggar belief.

"It is my hope that society as a whole will ostracise those who are wasting time.”

David McMahon is force control centre manager at Cheshire Police.

He said the 'misuse' of emergency calls had reduced in recent years, but remained a problem.

He said: "During weekends and times of festivities, we do see an increase the number of 999 calls and, unfortunately, we also see an increase in the number of people who ring to verbally abuse the force control centre staff - which often results in warnings regarding their conduct, termination of the calls or prosecution.

"We do still get people ringing 999, many of whom have never rung the police before, to report trivial incidents.

"For those who have dialled 999 with the best of intentions but the call is not really an emergency, we look to educate them and deal with their calls outside of the 999 service."