Fast-food restaurant being closed, lost jacket top worst 911 calls in 2018

A fast-food restaurant not being open 24-hours-a-day as advertised is this year’s worst 911 call made in B.C.

E-Comm, the province’s largest call centre, released its top 10 head-scratching calls Thursday – and some are laughable while others concerning.

The theme this year was consumer complaints, the centre said, from a retailer not accepting a return of shoes without the original box to a gas stations attendant putting the wrong type of fuel in a vehicle.

A returning complaint unnecessarily called into 911 this year was someone asking if the clocks move forward or backward during the Daylight Saving time change.

READ MORE: Wrong nail polish colour tops worst 911 calls of 2017

Call-taker Kayla Ryan, who fielded the call about a store rejecting a shoe return, said that when someone calls 911 for general information the dispatcher cannot simply disconnect the call.

“We still have to confirm the person is safe before completing the call,” she said. “Calling the police to complain about a store’s return policy isn’t a reason to call 911.”

While most use the emergency line responsibly, E-Comm corporate communications manager Jasmine Bradley said that those who don’t are tying up lines at centres which collectively handle 1.45 million calls each year.

“Calls such as those on this year’s headscratcher list waste valuable emergency resources that would otherwise be available to someone who’s health, safety or property was in jeopardy or a crime was in progress,” she said.

Here are E-Comm’s top 10 reasons not to call 911 this year:

1. To complain a local fast food restaurant wasn’t open 24-hours-a-day, as advertised
2. To complain a store won’t take shoes back without the original box
3. To complain that a gas station attendant put the wrong type of gas in their car
4. To report a rental company provided the wrong sized vehicle for a customer’s reservation
5. To report a restaurant wouldn’t redeem a customer’s coupon
6. To ask for help turning off their car lights
7. To report their vehicle’s windshield wipers had stopped working
8. To find out where their car had been towed
9. To report a lost jacket
10. To ask if the clocks move forward or back during the spring time change

@ashwadhwani
ashley.wadhwani@bpdigital.ca
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