A teenage motorcycle rider has been changed after staging a crash in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. The hoax prompted a multi-agency response, with all three emergency services attending the ‘incident’!
The teen was found lying under his bike between the kerb and a pedestrian island on Botany Avenue. After the motorists who found him called the emergency services, the road was closed, and the police, ambulance and fire service were all in attendance.
Complaining that he could not feel his legs or the right side of his body, the teen seemed to slip in and out of consciousness before being rushed to hospital with apparent life-changing injuries.
Hoax motorcycle crash video
During the investigation to find out what had happened in the crash, police came across the CCTV footage you can see above. In it the rider is seen to manually push his bike into position in the road, before placing it down on its side and lying underneath the maxi scooter. It was only when the CCTV footage was shown to the teen that he admitted to making the whole episode up!
Short of wasting police, ambulance and the fire services time, and blocking the road for an hour, the biggest danger the teen created was the possibility of real emergency calls going unanswered.
At its height, the incident saw the police, ambulance and fire service in attendance
Assistant Chief Constable Rob Griffin said:
“Every hoax or inappropriate call our emergency call handlers receive has the potential to delay us from responding to genuine emergencies and put someone else’s life in danger.
“If we attend a hoax call, it means we're not available when someone really needs our help. It could be a matter of life or death. Hoax calls can be traced and callers run the risk of a heavy fine and even a prison sentence.
"All we ask is that people only call 999 in genuine emergencies and remember that there are other ways to contact us for less urgent enquiries, with the Nottinghamshire Police website offering advice on hundreds of policing and non-policing issues and the 101 non-emergency number also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
