Hoax callers are costing Oxfordshire Fire Service a staggering £250,000 a year.

And the county's chief fire officer warns they are putting lives of firefighters and others at risk, as crews race to the scene.

During weekends, crews across the county are being called out on malicious calls about 20 times, at a cost of £2,000 per weekend, or approximately £100,000 per year.

The service deals with fewer malicious calls during the week, but retained firefighters who lose wages when they leave their work, have to be compensated.

Although the fire service successfully prosecuted nine people last year, the problem is still huge.

Chief fire officer Tom Carroll said hoaxers ranged from someone with a grudge against their company, youngsters wanting to get out of school, to someone who had been thrown out of a pub. He added that there were a number of persistent offend- ers.

He said: "We need to take action. We have links with Thames Valley Police and on one or two incidents, the hoaxer has been apprehended by crews at the incident or detained in conversation until the police arrive."

Mr Carroll said he believed education was the key to reducing the problem.

He said: "Eight or nine being prosecuted a year is at least progress.

"If we can stop it through education, we could spend that money on saving lives."

He said the cost of all false alarms to the fire service was about £500,000, as many calls sounded because company fire equipment was faulty and had not been properly maintained.

Story date: Tuesday 21 March

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.