Fire chiefs said it was not always obvious that it was a prank call

In the last year there were almost 1,800 false alarm calls to the fire service from Birmingham alone, a new report has shown.

The fire service said most of the hoax calls in the city came from areas such as Ladywood, Hodge Hill and Sparkbrook.

Every time a crew is sent out, it costs an average in �2,000 in staff time and equipment, the fire authority said.

Officials said false calls ranged from people saying there was a fire across the road to detailed information, for example, that a mother and baby were trapped in a house.

They added that it was not always obvious it was a prank call and they had to assume every 999 call was a fire.

A fire authority spokesperson said that as well as cash, false calls were risking resources being diverted from genuine emergencies.