PRANK calls were made to fire fighters and paramedics last night which saw crews being deployed to ‘emergency’ incidents that didn’t exist.

Both Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service and South Central Ambulance Service received calls yesterday evening which turned out to be malicious.

Crews from Redbridge fire station were deployed to a campsite in Landford after the service received a call at 6.45pm claiming that a fire was in progress.

The caller left limited information before hanging up. Crews attended Green Hill farm but found there was no incident ongoing.

However, when they arrived an ambulance crew was also on the scene. They had apparently been called out to deal with a reported cardiac arrest at the same address. That too proved to be a false alarm.

Now emergency services are warning those who make malicious calls they are tying up vital resources.

A spokesman for Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “We of course can’t take the risk that the call isn’t genuine so we have to deploy.

"When that happens and the call turns out to be malicious then vital resources are being tied up.

"It means that should another genuine call come in elsewhere, crews are committed elsewhere which could potentially have an impact.”