Nearly 1,500 hoax calls have been made to the East of England Ambulance Service over the last three years.

The shocking figures come amid a plea from Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mayoral candidate Aidan Van de Weyer to curb hoax calls.

The Lib Dem mayoral candidate said: "If you catch or know of someone making a hoax call, you shouldn't think twice about reporting them."

He also warned that malicious calls to the ambulance service are putting "an untold number of lives in danger" and pleaded with hoax callers to think twice.

Figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats reveal there have been 23,942 hoax calls recorded by nine out of England’s ten ambulance services in the last three years.

1,360 were in the East of England with 369 of those in 2019.

The Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Aidan Van De Weyer said: "Anyone who maliciously calls for an ambulance is putting an untold number of lives in danger.

"An ambulance that is diverted to a hoax is one that can't save a life elsewhere. One day, that could be your mum, dad, brother, sister or friend.

"Is it really worth risking someone's life for five minutes of 'fun'?

"The coronavirus crisis is leaving the most vulnerable in our communities at risk, and people are rightly worried about their loved ones.

"The people in our ambulance service are putting their lives on the line every single day to protect us.

"In turn, we have a moral responsibility to do all we can to protect them.

"And if you catch or know of someone making a hoax call, you shouldn't think twice about reporting them.

"It is the lowest of low in our society, and they will rightly be hit with the full force of the law, which includes imprisonment."