HOAX calls are something that will not be tolerated, the emergency services have stressed.

Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that, year on year, the number of calls taken by North Wales Fire and Rescue operators have increased since 2016 - and they say hoaxes are "worrying".

The data shows that, in 2016, more than 13,300 calls came into the force's communications centre in St Asaph, which is shared with North Wales Police.

Of these, there were a total of 191 malicious calls taken from across the region, with appliances being sent to almost 60 of them.

In the most recent batch of statistics, for 2018, there were more than 14,370 calls logged by call handlers, but the number of malicious calls dropped to 109, with appliances sent out to 39 of these.

Peter Davies, head of control and temporary head of ICT for North Wales Fire and Rescue Service, said the service is proactive in its efforts to reduce the number of malicious incidents that firefighters attend through the 'call challenging' scheme.

He said: "This scheme has been successful in bringing down the number of hoax calls received and attended. The control operator will challenge the caller if they suspect it to be a hoax call before mobilising fire crews.

"Members of the public should be aware that all calls to the fire and rescue service are recorded, along with the callers' details and where they are calling from, even from a mobile phone. This information can be shared with the police and ambulance to see if the caller has any history of making hoax calls to other services.

"This means that there is a much greater chance of a person making a hoax call being traced. If a person is caught making a hoax call, then they could face prosecution."

The fire service is keen to stress that any calls reporting false details of a fire are not acceptable and, if anyone has any information about persons making malicious calls to the emergency services they should contact the police immediately.

Mr Davies added: "Unfortunately, children are often unaware how potentially dangerous these calls can be. Hoax calls are extremely worrying for the service as when fire crews are dispatched unnecessarily, valuable resources become committed which could be needed for life-saving at other incidents. Making hoax calls to any emergency service is a criminal offence.

"For this reason, the fire and rescue service urges parents to help by making sure they know where their children are and what they are up to during the evenings, weekends and school holidays."