POLICE have issued a reminder to members of the public in Worcestershire about when to call 999.

The festive season is traditionally one of the busiest times of the year for emergency services - and West Mercia Police is eager for its resources to be dedicated to genuine police matters.

It is urging people to think before automatically dialling the emergency number.

999 calls should be used when there is a danger to life or a risk of injury, a crime is in progress or police attendance is required immediately.

But it should not be used for non-emergency calls, which would tie up an operator and delay a police response to someone who may actually require the police but is unable to get through.

For non-emergency police matters people can call 101.

This appeal comes after official figures reveal that between 7pm on December 31, 2014, and 7am on January 1, 2015, West Mercia Police received 433 emergency 999 calls. At the peak of the night, a 999 call was received once every 26 seconds.

Chief Inspector Sean Kent said: "The festive period is the busiest time of year for the emergency services and plans are in place to ensure that we have the resources needed to keep our communities safe.

"We are asking the public to help us by being responsible in their use of the 999 emergency number. We don't want to deter anyone from calling 999 but we are asking people to use the system sensibly over the Christmas and New Year, to ensure that we can respond appropriate and quickly to genuine emergency calls."