Cardiff man made more than 100 abusive calls to emergency services

18.06.24

A CARDIFF man who bombarded the emergency services with abusive and threatening phone calls has been sentenced in court.

Adil Hassan, 36, of Loudoun Square, Cardiff, made more than 100 calls to the Welsh Ambulance Service during 10-16 May, in which he would shout, swear and use sexually explicit language.

At Cardiff Magistrates’ Court on Friday, he pleaded guilty to the persistent use of a public communications network to cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety.

For this and other charges, Hassan was sentenced to 24 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months.

Laura Charles, a Duty Control Manager at the Welsh Ambulance Service, said: “In all my years in the ambulance service, this is by far the worst verbal abuse I have ever heard.

“When ringing 999, Hassan was not ringing to ask for help for a medical emergency.

“He was ringing only to abuse call takers or to vent about something that was annoying him.

“Call takers from all three of our control rooms in Wales had to tolerate his vile language, all while dealing with a high volume of calls into the service.

“One minute, we were taking a call for a cardiac arrest from a distraught family member, and the next we were being called a whore by Hassan.

“Having abuse in your ear can be just as damaging, if not more damaging, than being abused in-person.

“Call takers are trained to remain calm and conduct themselves professionally regardless of what they are dealing with, but the abuse by Hassan made this difficult.

“We did as much as we could to support call takers during his bombardment, but I can’t begin to tell you the impact it had on them.”

Lee Brooks, Executive Director of Operations, added: “Every moment spent dealing with Hassan’s calls could have been spent helping someone in a cardiac arrest or a serious road traffic collision.

“One abusive call is one too many, but more than 100 is frankly abhorrent.

“These are call takers who come to work to help people in their darkest hour, so to have been at the receiving end of Hassan’s barrage of abuse is heartbreaking and not acceptable.

“An attack on one of us is an attack of all of us, which is why we will pursue violence and aggression against emergency workers all the way to the courts.”

Hassan, who also made multiple calls to South Wales Police, also pleaded guilty to intentionally or recklessly causing a public nuisance.

Detective Inspector Andy Lewis from South Wales Police, said: “Adil Hassan’s actions potentially risked the health and safety of the public due to emergency services being tied up dealing with his persistent unnecessary calls.

“No-one should be subjected to the kind of language that Hassan used during the calls.

“We hope this suspended sentence serves as a warning to him that he risks going to jail if he continues to act in this manner.

“South Wales Police will do all we can to protect emergency service colleagues and the public in cases such as this.”