'Thousands' of pounds wasted after bank holiday hoax call out on Gower
A number of emergency services attended the call to Three Cliffs
Mumbles Coastguard has expressed its 'extreme disappointment' after a hoax call on Good Friday saw a number of emergency services descend on a Gower Beach.
A call was made from Three Cliffs with reports a person had fallen from cliffs but when teams arrived they found the emergency phone damaged and out of service.
Several services were dispatched and a large search carried out but no one was found.
In a social media post - Mumbles Coastguard says the hoax cost thousands of pounds in both taxpayer and volunteer money as well as tying up services including police, ambulance, fire and lifeboat crews on a busy bank holiday.
The full post from Mumbles Coastguard's Facebook page is below.
"Mumbles Coastguard were paged at 16:53 to investigate a call from the emergency phone on Three Cliffs Bay.
"The emergency phone call had been abruptly cut off. A second call was then made from a phone box in the area. The caller reported a person had fallen off a cliff in the area with a fatal outcome.
"On arrival the emergency phone was found damaged and out of service.
"Several services were dispatched and a large search tasking undertaken with nothing found. With no further information or reports, this callout was assumed a hoax call and all assets stood down.
"This behaviour has cost thousands of both tax payer and volunteer funds as well has many hours of time on what has been an extremely busy bank holiday weekend (Mumbles 4th callout).
"It has taken valuable resources away from important taskings, disrupted holiday makers, local businesses and the lives of our and our partner services families.
"Please see below the list of services involved in this callout:
🛑South Wales Police Swansea and Neath Port Talbot
🛑Gwasanaeth Tân ac Achub CGC / MAWW Fire and Rescue
🛑Oxwich Coastguard Rescue Team
🛑Horton and Port Eynon Lifeboat RNLI
🛑RNLI Lifeguards Swansea
🛑Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust First responders & HART (Hazardous Area Response Team)
🛑HM Coastguard - South and West Wales
🛑Control rooms and management for all of the above.
🛑Friends and families.
"Note the emergency phone on Three Cliffs is out of service until repairs can be made by the operator.
"We'd like to thank all those involved with this callout and again express our extreme disappointment in this behaviour."