GREATER Manchester Fire Service has to deal with the second highest number of hoax calls in the country.

The county brigade received 5,740 (8.5per cent) of the 67,000 hoax calls handled by fire and rescue services in the UK. London receives the highest number of malicious calls.

Figures also showed that of the 30.5 million 999 calls handled by British Telecom (BT) last year, 52 per cent,16.1 million, were "inappropriate".

The figures were released last week to mark the launch of the first Hoax Calls Awareness Week.

The scheme sees BT teaming up with the Government and emergency services to combat the potentially life-threatening problems caused by false calls to 999.

The campaign will target parents, teachers and children with representatives from BT and the emergency services visiting schools across the UK, urging youngsters to think twice before dialling 999.

It will also spell out how hoax calls can cost lives as they tie up vital resources and hinder response times to real emergencies.

Sir Graham Meldrum, HM chief inspector of fire services said: "Children think these calls are harmless fun, but calling out the fire brigade to false alarms is not only dangerous it is also a massive drain on finances."

A recent joint campaign by BT Payphones and the fire service saw malicious calls from phone boxes drop by an average of 78 per cent. BT's Hoax Call Awareness Week hopes to follow this success by reducing calls from all lines.