OUR disclosure today that hoax calls made from just one pair of telephone boxes in an East Lancashire street are costing the fire service tens of thousands of pounds in wasted turn-outs is disturbing enough in itself.

But it is a truly chilling thought that people's lives may be wasted because of this senseless crime.

And equally worrying is that, while the menace of malicious calls made from the kiosks in town-centre Accrington has been going on for years, there has been such a spate that the town's fire station now receives more false calls than anywhere else in Lancashire.

Gangs of youths using the phone boxes in Garbett Street are the suspects for the upsurge. But though these kiosks are a known crux of the false-calls curse, firefighters cannot, of course, ignore any of the 999 calls made from them -- as, one day, the emergency could be life-threateningly real. For a fire crew to be out answering a bogus call when they are needed for a genuine crisis is a risk that should never happen. When someone is trapped in a blazing building or wrecked vehicle, every second counts.

And, yet, time and again, the danger of deadly delay in just such circumstances is being criminally foisted upon the people of Lancashire every time a fire engine is needed in an emergency when others are out on wild goose chases.

That the louts responsible for this outrage need clobbering is plain. And police are launching a crackdown.

But let's see the drive to root them out backed up by the community keeping its eyes open for these gangs and reporting them to the police. Yet again, parents must ask themselves if they know where their children are and what they are up to.

Let us also see the book thrown at the culprits when they are caught. And if the youngsters are under the age of criminal responsibility, they -- and if need be, their parents -- should be subjected to such a forceful and frightening telling off that they never contemplate doing it again.