A PERSON in Taunton has made 264 bogus phone calls to police since January.

The offender, who has not been named, has been warned they face court or a fine if they dial 101 or 999 again unless there is an emergency.

They have been issued with conditions prohibiting them from calling 999 or 101 "unless there is a genuine threat to their life or property".

A spokesperson for the Taunton Neighbourhood Team said: "We have been working alongside this particular persistent caller for a substantial amount of time to try and reduce the volume of calls they make to the police.

"The work already in place not only involves us dealing with the individual, but also liaising with support agencies for support, to see if there are other factors in place as to why this individual is placing a great demand on us and other emergency services.

"From January this year, they have called the police a total of 264 times on 101 and 999.

"We have tried other interventions to reduce the calls and will be continuing to support the persistent caller by working with other agencies.

"If the persistent caller does not abide by the conditions, they could face attending court and being issued with a fine."

The spokesperson added that the hoax calls put a greater demand on officers, who are taken away from incidents they need to attend.

"The workload in dealing with persistent callers places great demand on not only the police, but also other agencies in terms of interventions and support in trying to prevent these re-occurrences," said the spokesperson.