DOZENS of people in Bolton have been placed on a fire brigade blacklist for making repeated hoax calls.

One person is added to the list each week And many of the 50 people who have been put on the list in the last 12 months have subsequently had their mobile phones blocked for making malicious calls.

The fire service operates a "two strikes" policy, requesting that mobile phones are blocked when more than one hoax calls is made by the owner.

Ian Duckworth, watch commander at Bolton Central Fire Station, said: "Often it's children or teenagers messing around so we warn them and in the majority of cases they stop making hoax calls.

"If they do not, we bar the phones.

"Although this only affects the SIM card and people can change it to continue making calls, it could be that they have £30 of credit on the card and so they lose the lot."

The fire service bars unregistered, pay-as-you-go handsets. People who make calls from contract mobiles or landline phones, registered to addresses, are visited by police.

Around 40 per cent of hoax calls are made on mobiles, 55 per cent from phone boxes and five per cent from home landlines.

Mr Duckworth said: "When many people were getting mobile phones around seven years ago, the number of hoax calls reached a peak and it was then that we decided something needed to be done to effectively tackle this. In Greater Manchester, we disconnected 350 mobiles over two years."

This week the Bolton Evening News has launched a joint campaign with the fire service to track down the people who put the lives of others at risk by reporting false emergencies.

We have been placing recordings of hoax calls on our website and are asking people to call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 if they recognise the voice.

Anybody who makes a hoax call risks having that call heard by thousands of people with a very good chance they will be tracked down.

YOU can hear a hoax call of a man making a false report of a flat fire in Deane by clicking: www.boltoneveningnews.co.uk/news/shopahoaxer/ and following the links.

The call was made at 11.14pm on Thursday, July 27.

You can also listen to the previous three hoax calls uploaded to the site this week. If you think you can identify any of the callers after hearing the recordings, phone Crimestoppers, anonymously if you prefer, on their freephone number 0800 555111.