by Lynn Cox

lcox@thekmgroup.co.uk

A Gillingham woman has been issued with a £80 fine for wasting police time after falsely reporting to officers someone had gone missing.

The woman, 20, who has not been named, was given the fixed penalty notice after officers received a call to say a woman in her 20s had disappeared and had told friends she had taken paracetamol tablets and drunk alcohol.

Police launched a large scale search for her on Wednesday, May 27, which also involved officers from the Metropolitan Police, after reports she may have gone to London.

The search lasted for five hours, after which time it was established the woman had not been missing, was safe and well and was not in any danger.

The hoax has led police to issue a warning to people not to waste police time.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Pritchard from Medway Police, said: "Our services were needlessly involved in this incident at a great financial cost, but more importantly, put additional pressures on our resources.

"The time spent dealing with situations such as this could impact on our ability to deal with genuine incidents as well as the preventing and detecting of crime.

As a result of the serious implications, anyone found to be wasting the time of any of the emergency services will be dealt with robustly.

"That said, we would not want to discourage people from contacting the emergency services when they believe there is a need to do so."