POLICE in Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale received a record number of emergency calls over the weekend.

Some 330 calls were made to the police via the 999 number up to midnight on Saturday, far exceeding the previous highest total of 210 calls in a 24-hour period.

Officers said that the vast majority of the calls were for minor incidents and were not legitimate 999 emergencies.

Inspector Richard Clare said: "That number of recorded calls is definitely higher than normal. And out of the 530 calls, 330 were 999 emergency call-outs.

"The highest number of 999 calls we have had before in one day is 210, so this was significantly greater. We cannot say why this is exactly, but it does not necessarily reflect that more crimes were committed.

"A difficulty we face is that many people dial 999 when it is not an emergency.

"Out of the hundreds we received over the weekend, only a small number were legitimate emergencies. The others were about less urgent incidents and issues, but people were still dialling 999.

"This could be because people do not know the local number, or because it's easier to just dial 999. But it poses a problem for us because so many emergency calls slows the system up considerably - we only have a set number if call takers and a 999 call is automatically classed as an emergency and has to be dealt with as a priority. Dealing with non-emergency reports can delay us getting to the genuine emergencies."

A number of the calls received were also false alarms.

An armed response unit was sent to Harvey Street in Nelson at 2.30am on Sunday after reports were received about a large group of people fighting, with one man carrying a 12-inch knife, and a Samurai sword, but when officers arrived there was nobody there.

The number for non-emergency police issues is 01282 425001.