An abusive phone caller berated police control room staff while officers dealt with a crash on the A120 over the weekend.

According to Chief Inspector Jamie Gingell, of Essex Police, the caller vented their frustrations about a road closure on the A120 at Great Dunmow after an incident on Sunday, August 21.

Officers were called to a crash at around 6.30am, which was also attended by paramedics and a National Highways team.

Ch Insp Gingell said: "Whilst we appreciate that nobody wants to spend their Sunday morning stuck in traffic, the road closures enforced following a serious injury collision are vital to ensure that those involved receive the appropriate medical attention, the matter is investigated properly and that the public are kept safe.

"Abusive calls to our control room operators will not be tolerated and calls such as these prevent us from answering the vital 101 and 999 calls from members of the public who genuinely and urgently need our help.

"Our control room deals with an extremely high number of calls on a daily basis and we need the public’s help to understand how and when to contact us."

According to National Highways, the road reopened in full at around 10.15am the same day.

Essex Police's website includes a list of circumstances when calling 999 and 101 is acceptable.

A statement on the website reads: "Call 999 if: a serious offence is in progress or has just been committed; someone is in immediate danger or harm; property is in danger of being damaged; a serious disruption to the public is likely.

"If you have a hearing or speech impairment, use our textphone service 18000.

"Or text us on 999 if you’ve pre-registered with the emergencySMS service (https://www.relayuk.bt.com/).

"British Sign Language (BSL) users please use the video relay service (https://999bsl.co.uk/) where an interpreter will help you report the crime to us.

"Call 101 for non-emergency enquiries.

"If you have a hearing or speech impairment, use our textphone service on 18001 101."