FIREFIGHTERS are warning the public about a telemarketing scam that claims 999 calls are not being responded to.

Oxfordshire County Council’s Fire and Rescue Service says some residents have had calls from a company offering to sell them another way of raising the alarm.

The caller has claimed the fire and rescue service are not dealing with all 999 calls because of problems with hoaxes.

But Stuart Garner, Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service’s home and community safety manager, said: “Those behind these claims are making deliberately misleading telephone calls to people in an attempt to sell what is in fact a completely unnecessary service.

“I want to categorically reassure people that the fire and rescue service will respond to every 999 call it receives — there is absolutely no question about that.”