The man made the offending phone call to complain about a sex worker he felt was 'misleadingly advertised' in the 'personals section', seemingly unaware that he was the one breaking the law by soliciting a prostitute.

He told the operator that "basically she's misdescribed herself, misrepresented herself totally. She's angry because she thinks I owe her a living or something". The emergency worker responded by hanging up.

The police were able to identify the caller, and phoned him back to warn him against both abusing the 999 number and engaging in illegal activity. He has also been sent a written warning.

Sgt Jerome Moran, the police officer who called the man back, has told the press "it was unbelievable - he genuinely believed he had done nothing wrong and that the woman should have been investigated by police for misrepresentation. I told him that she'd not committed any offences and that it was his actions, in soliciting for sex, that were in fact illegal."