The service does not want to discourage real emergencies

Calls to the service's Nottingham headquarters were 6% higher than at the start of the year and included one from a woman upset with her DVD player.

It is thought the hot weather combined with a large number of public events was partly responsible.

Managers are now appealing for people to dial 999 only when absolutely necessary.

Increased calls

The service said the warm weather brought an increased number of DIY and sporting injuries, as well as heat exhaustion and allergies.

Time Wasters Calls concerned with trivial injuries are something we can quite frankly do without Phil Morris, East Midlands Ambulance Service

Public events such as the motor racing at Donington Park and Leicester's Belgrave Mela were also factors.

With temperatures continuing to stay high, the service is appealing to people not to ring 999 unless it is a genuine emergency.

Phil Morris from East Midlands Ambulance Service said: "A rise of 6% may not sound like much but to us that represents 130 more calls, each one of which has to be dealt with.

"Some of those calls were for trivial reasons and we are appealing for people to think twice as calls concerned with trivial injuries are something we can quite frankly do without."

Minor problems

While emphasising they did not want people with a genuine emergency to be put off, Mr Morris pointed out unnecessary calls wasted time and resources.

He said: "Day in, day out, we get calls from people who trapped their thumb in a door two days ago and the like and that's something you should ring NHS Direct about.

"The worst case we had this weekend was from a lady whose DVD player wasn't working, she felt stressed about it and wanted a paramedic to go over and take a look."