Sun, Nov 08 2009

Massive fines for misuse of 112 emergency hotline

Fri, Oct 17 2008 14:25 CET byElitsa Grancharova 570 Views

Bulgaria's Parliament passed on October 18 at the first reading the draft bill of the law on European emergency number 112, which envisions a maximum fine of 20 000 leva for misuse of the emergency line.

The highest sanction would be imposed in cases when, as a result of the hoax phone call for help, the local offices for emergency reaction will have sent people out. In the milder cases, fines would range between 2000 and 5000 leva, Bulgarian-language daily Dnevnik reported. The fine would be doubled for a repeat violation, according to the bill.

The approval of the draft comes less than a month after two teenage girls from the town of Byala have set something of a record by, in just three months, making about 3000 hoax phone calls to ambulance, fire brigade and police emergency numbers.

Questioned by police, the girls explained that they had been "having fun". The police said that the two teenagers could not be arrested for the offence because they were under age. Among the false reports made by the two have been murders, accidents, thefts and of a woman being in labour.

According to a report of the Bulgarian National Television (BNT), medical personnel regularly have refused to respond to emergency calls from the girls' neighbourhood because they did not know whether to believe pleas for help.

Write comment

Name:Comment:

Generate new code
Send your comment

More in this category

Influenza update: Sofia schools suspend classes

Kindergartens to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis and universities to decide for themselves whether to suspend classes.

Sliven police capture illegal immigrants bound for Greece

Five illegal immigrants from Iran and Iraq caught by Bulgarian police in Sliven.

Deputy head of veterinary service arrested on bribery charge

Leonid Lavchev sent an intermediary to collect 1000 leva from a dairy farm in Haskovo, investigators say

Former cabinet minister investigated for alleged embezzlement, malfeasance

Former labour minister Emilia Maslarova follows the example of Socialist party leader and former prime minister, Sergei Stanishev, in requesting that her MP immunity is lifted

Influenza update: sixth death in Bulgaria, Sofia schools face suspended classes

Health Minister: Influenza strain is not seasonal flu, it is swine flu. More than 100 000 Bulgarians are down with the H1N1 strain.

© 2000-2009, Sofia Echo Media Ltd.

Web Design by RIZN

Sofia Echo Media is part of the Economedia Group.
The news and information content on this website is provided by our editorial team and is copyrighted. Any unauthorised reproduction or use of it is strictly forbidden. Reproduction of this website's content is permitted only with prior written permission from the Editor-in-Chief, should be propertly acredited and provide an active link back to our site. Comments posted by the website's visitors are independent of the editorial materials and do not represent the views of sofiaecho.com. Sofia Echo Media cannot be held responsible for the statements contained in visitor comments. The percentаge change in the shares' prices are based on the price of the last transaction of the current session compared to the price of the last transaction of the previous session. Bulgarian Stock Exchange data is not real-time, but updated every 15 minutes, and should not be used as a basis for decisions about buying or selling stock options.