A woman used 17 different mobile phones to repeatedly call the emergency number 999 and has been imprisoned for it.
Sonia Nixon, 56, called the emergency line over 2,000 times in the past three years – with 1,194 of those calls made in 2023 alone.
Nixon, from Harrow, Greater London, was among the top three offenders for repeat callers last year.
Her nuisance calls cost the Metropolitan Police about £4,500 in five months, affecting the speed of response to real emergencies.
During one call she asked the operator ‘where’s my food?’, and in another she asked the operator for the phone number of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
In another call she repeatedly shouted ‘where’s my stuff?’, escalating as the operator attempted to calm her down and gather more information.
She was arrested on January 10 for 668 breaches of the Communications Act 2003, and charged for 670 offences.
After being arrested, she racially abused an officer and was further arrested for racially aggravated public disorder before urinating in the caged van and being arrested for criminal damage.
Last month Nixon was convicted for 696 nuisance calls made to 999, plus four racially aggravated public order offences against emergency workers.
She was also granted a five-year Criminal Behaviour Order, including conditions of contacting 999 only in an emergency, as well as alerting workers to any new calls from Nixon.
Superintendent Matt Cray said: ‘This was a superb result and testament to the hard work and dedication of the community policing team to bring Sonia Nixon to justice.
‘She has been a massive drain on local and wider Met resources, consistently abusing our emergency workers with vile and racist behaviour, as well as causing a menace on the streets.
‘The excellent work by officers in convicting Nixon means we will be able to prevent further instances of her high volume calling and impact to the 999 service level, ensuring we can prioritise resources where they are really needed, and help restore trust and confidence in our local communities.’
More than a quarter of calls made to emergency services do not have a policing purpose, with abusive callers costing the Met over £2million, as well as preventing genuine emergencies from being answered.
