Man calls police after mistakenly buying alcohol-free gin

But his complaint doesn't go to plan

The unusual complaint to the British emergency services was made after the man thought he bought a gin and tonic, but the big issue was that his drink was alcohol-free.

Hertfordshire Police released audio which reveal that the man, whose identity is not known, was a frustrated shopper who complained that his drink in fact contained no gin.

He was then quickly informed by the call handler that this wasn’t a police matter.

The man explained that prior to heading to a park nearby, he had bought miniature Gordon’s gin and tonics from a local Tesco grocery store.

As heard in the audio released by Hertfordshire Police, which was published by the BBC, he told the operator: “I’m going over to the park, because it’s nice and cool, and I’m sitting in shade and I look at it, it’s zero alcohol. And it’s in the alcohol section, so they all look the same.”

How the matter complicated further

Following the discovery, the shopper said that he returned to the store in hopes he could exchange the remaining drinks, but the store told him that he’d already consumed one of them.

He offered to pay for the one he’d opened and exchange the others.

The shopper revealed that the entire purchase had cost him roughly $8, and he wasn’t happy about being left with alcohol-free drinks.

The emergency operator told him: “At the moment, this is not a police matter”.

“I’m really angry, so I’ll get arrested… because I’m not having it. I’ve just paid them six quid for non-alcoholic gin and tonic”, the frustrated caller said in response.

The operator advised him against carrying on with his plans of taking an alcoholic drink from the store without paying for it, while encouraging him to calmly speak with Tesco management about the situation.

Later, the recording by Hertfordshire Police was released with a more serious message which concerns unnecessary calls made to emergency services.

Speaking to The Independent, a police spokesperson said: “While this call may seem amusing, the serious side of it is that this individual called 999 and took up the time of one of our call handlers who could have been helping someone in genuine need — potentially even a life-or-death situation.”