PERSISTENT hoax callers to the ambulance service face prosecution under a new crackdown.

And the move to issue "zero tolerance" guidelines to the service throughout the country has been welcomed by Whitefield-based Greater Manchester Ambulance Service.

Ambulance Trusts are being urged by the Government to make full use of the law by:

Reporting all hoax calls to the police and pressing for prosecution

Considering private prosecution where there is evidence that a conviction is likely and it is in the public interest to do so.

Not responding to inappropriate 999 calls. Instead people will get the NHS service that most closely matches their needs.

Welcoming the guidance, announced by Health Minister David Lammy, is Mr John Burnside, chief executive of Greater Manchester Ambulance Service.

He said: "We fully support any initiatives to reduce the inappropriate use of the 999 service and will always seek to prosecute those who make hoax calls.

"We do receive thousands of calls every year from people requesting an ambulance who do not really need one, such as a broken finger nail or an itchy back."

Latest figures received from a small number of ambulance trusts in England show that they each get around 40 to 50 hoax or malicious calls every week.

If these figures were replicated throughout the country, then the ambulance service receives around 1,000 hoax or malicious calls a week or 70,000 each year.

The Government says that many people who dial 999 do not need an emergency ambulance. Studies suggest as many as 40 per cent of ambulance journeys are not necessary.