BC’s top ten silliest 911 calls in 2023, ranked by the pros

People still call 911 for the most ridiculous reasons, and 2023 was no exception in BC.

EComm 911 released its annual list of top nuisance calls in the form of a top ten list. This year’s number one nuisance call was someone who called 911 looking for directions home from a Drake concert.

Number two was someone who called when the traffic light took too long to turn green, and number three was someone who lost a nose ring down the shower drain.

Three of the top ten were food-related, with hungry callers upset their UberEats order was taking too long or that a burger joint wouldn’t let them in before opening. One person called 911 when their McDonalds order took too long.

“No matter how absurd a call might be on the surface, we have to treat every 9-1-1 call as an emergency, until we can confidently determine otherwise,” explains Alaina Milicevic, police call taker at E-Comm. “Every second we spend fielding questions about AirBnB reservations or complaints about UberEats orders, is time that could otherwise be dedicated to helping someone in a life-threatening emergency situation. We can’t help you with consumer complaints on 9-1-1, but reaching out to an appropriate customer service agent, or filing a report with the Better Business Bureau might help resolve your issue.”

Nuisance calls are a preventable problem and E-Comm is encouraging British Columbians to do their part by keeping 9-1-1 lines free for emergencies where immediate response is required from police, fire or ambulance.

Top 10 nuisance calls of 2023

1. To ask for directions home from the Drake concert
2. The traffic light was taking too long to turn green
3. They lost a nose ring down the shower drain
4. Their AirBnB host cancelled their reservation
5. Their UberEats order was taking too long
6. A burger joint wouldn’t let them in before opening
7. They couldn’t find their cell phone
8. To complain about a pothole
9. Their McDonalds order was taking too long
10. The barber gave them a bad haircut

9‑1‑1 is for police, fire or medical emergencies when immediate action is required: someone’s health, safety or property is in jeopardy or a crime is in progress.

Use 911 safely and efficiently

Know your location at all times
Don’t program 9‑1‑1 into any phone
If you call 9‑1‑1 accidentally, stay on the line and let us know
Lock and store your cellphone carefully to prevent accidental 9-1-1 calls
Do not text or tweet 9-1-1
Call takers cannot transfer your non-emergency call from 9-1-1, visit nonemergency.ca for a list of alternate resources for reporting non-emergency matters
E-Comm has handled more than 2.1 million 9-1-1 calls so far in 2023