POLICE have appealed for members of the public to stop using the 999 number to report traffic and weather problems.

They say the emergency room had been flooded with calls when the Preston area was lashed by gales last week.

She said: "The control room was absolutely swamped with calls.

"Lots of trees were brought down by the gales and heavy rain added to the problems.

"While it is quite frightening to see trees falling down, people shouldn't be calling the 999 system. That is for emergency calls only."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.