POLICE are urging mobile phone companies to redesign handsets after revealing local stations are being flooded with false 999 calls.

The situation, which is already reaching epidemic proportions in Burnley, is set to get even worse next month when Blackburn begins dealing with its own mobile emergency calls.

All mobile phone calls currently made to 999 in Lancashire go to police HQ in Hutton, but individual divisions are gradually taking over the responsibility of dealing with calls made within their area.

When Eastern Division, covering Blackburn, Darwen, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley, takes over answering its mobile 999 calls, they expect to receive an extra 900 such calls a week -- almost double the 999 calls they currently receive but with no extra staff being made available.

Currently, many of 4,000 mobile phone calls made each week to the Hutton headquarters are so-called silent 999 calls -- ones made by mistake by people with mobile phones in their pockets.

Many models of mobile phone allow users to lock the keypads so they can't make any calls by mistake. But some allow 999 calls even when the lock is on.

Talks are now under way with mobile phone manufacturers Nokia -- whose 3310 model is responsible for 60 per of all silent calls made -- and Ericsson, whose sales have soared as one of their models was used in the Tomb Raider movie with Angelina Jolie.

The communications centre in Burnley began receiving mobile calls in June, and the number of calls dealt with by the centre rocketed from 23,000 to 38,000 calls, of which hundreds were accidental calls from mobile phones..

Supt Chris Weigh, from Pennine Division, said: "Even though there is no speech and it is often clear they are accidental we have to make a judgment on whether we need to find out more. It all takes time and makes it difficult for us to answer genuine calls."

The system used by police call centres means 999 calls take priority over calls made to specific police stations, even though they are dealt with by the same staff.

When calls for all of Ribble Valley, Hyndburn and Blackburn's police stations were redirected to one centralised call centre in Northgate, Blackburn, there was an outcry from councillors across the area that it was taking longer for calls to be answered.

Insp Steven Howarth, the communications room inspector at Blackburn, said: "We had been making progress in picking up calls more quickly, but by having to take mobile phone calls as well, people may well have to wait longer.

"We deal with 1,000 999 calls a week at the moment. We estimate we will take an extra 900 a week when the system changes next month, but we get no more staff.

"Many of those calls will be silent 999 calls. It is a massive problem nationwide which is why the police are talking to the networks and the manufacturers to see what can be done, maybe redesigning the handsets.

"A scheme where all mobile phone 999 calls go through New Scotland Yard is also being worked upon.

"Some 60 per cent of silent mobile calls come from one Nokia model alone. It is a massive problem which effects how quickly we can deal with legitimate routine calls."

Around 14,000 calls are handled a week in Blackburn, around 2,500 a day.

Supt Weigh added that, in Burnley, careless mobile phone users had been contacted and warned not to let the accidental calls happen again.

Elsewhere in the country, repeat offenders have had their phones barred or text message have been sent warning the user not to let it happen again.

Nothing has been confirmed for Blackburn yet.

Rossendale and Darwen MP Janet Anderson said: "This is a major problem and something needs to be done. The first thing is that people should always lock their keypads and manufacturers should take steps to ensure that when they are locked people can't dial 999 by mistake."

A spokesman for Vodafone said: "Vodafone is committed to working very closely with the manufacturers, competitors and some cases with police, when responding to nuisance calls."

"Vodafone does not condone unlawful behaviour using a mobile phone and will seek to protect or assist to avoid this type of activity."

Ribble Valley Tory MP Nigel Evans said he was to urge mobile phone manufacturers to introduce some form of safety device to stop the accidental 999 calls.

The Tory vice chairman said: "This is a serious problem. I suppose that it arises because it's three identical numbers in succession. We obviously can't change that now as the emergency number is so well known.

"What we need is some form of simple safety device incorporated into the phone to prevent accidental emergency calls. For example if someone rings 999 on a mobile phone, perhaps it should flash up a further question requiring insertion of a simple code to continue. Such a device could reduce the accidental 999 calls to almost zero.

"I have been in discussions with the One To One network on other issues and I shall be contacting them, BT Cellnet and other operators on the issue and asking them to look at incorporating some form of safety device into phones in the future to tackle the problem."

Nobody from Nokia or Ericsson was available to comment.