I work as a 999 operator for BT and I'm glad to hear most of the hoaxes get filtered out before they actually warrant an ambulance being sent out. We get loads of kids calling up to mess around and I try to get rid of as many as possible without having to connect them to anyone. As soon as they make a request I obviously have to connect them to whoever they ask for and it really irritates me when I know it's a hoax. Usually kids will request something and then hang up right away, but some of them have so much cheek. Like last night, I had a call from a young girl asking for the US army service. I tried all my mandatory phrases on her, told her to hang up, tried the 'there's a camera in that phone box' and 'we know you're standing on XXX Road' and 'I'm connecting this call to the police if you stay on line' while she kept insisting she required the US army. Then she decided she needed the fire brigade. Very reluctantly, I connected her, and listened as she told the fire brigade that there was a school on fire. Luckily the fire didn't take long to work out it was a hoax, but I still wished I hadn't had to connect it.