Emergency services raced to Kettering after a report that a crash had left an injured baby trapped - only to find it was an evil hoax.
This afternoon (Sunday) Northants Police's serious incident investigation unit hit out at the 'abhorrent' behaviour, which wasted the time of police, paramedics and fire officers.
A caller rang Northamptonshire Police's force control room and alleged there had been a four-vehicle crash in Kettering and that a baby, who was injured, was trapped.
Response officers from the north of the county deployed to the scene with paramedics from East Midlands Ambulance Service and fire officers from Kettering Fire Station also in attendance.
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But the report turned out to be a false and malicious call.
A serious incident investigation unit spokesman described the call as "absolutely abhorrent wasteful behaviour".
The incident is not the first hoax in Kettering in recent weeks, which has wasted valuable time and potentially diverted resources away from real emergencies where lives could be at risk.
Last month it was revealed firefighters were called to a 'burning building' in the town centre before being abused and pelted with missiles by teenage yobs.
And in a separate incident the air ambulance was needlessly called after a hoax caller told police he had been stabbed near the town's Tesco Extra.
He was later arrested and given a conditional discharge for wasting police time.