A TELEPHONE prankster's joke backfired when he dialled 999 to tell police: "You are the weakest link, goodbye."

Durham Police officers did not see the funny side when the call came into the control room at the force's Aykley Heads headquarters.

They traced the mobile phone number of the person quoting Anne Robinson's catchphrase from the TV quiz, The Weakest Link, and had his phone disconnected.

The call was just one of hundreds of hoax or strange 999 calls received by Durham Police each year.

A modern-day Scrooge stunned police by phoning to report his neighbour's out-of-date tax disc - at 7.30am on Christmas Day. The grumpy resident demanded officers took immediate action.

A man called to complain about the late-night racket being made by his next-door neighbours, but was politely reminded that it was customary to celebrate at midnight on New Year's Eve.

A woman was furious when a delivery boy brought her a pizza with the wrong topping, and a man telephoned to protest that the kebab he had bought was cold.

One Darlington drinker was so unhappy when he snagged his jumper on a nail in a pub that he felt he had to tell the police.

Another man reported that he had seen a 6ft transvestite in underwear and a kimono.

When pressed by the officer at the end of the line he confessed he was the transvestite in question, and asked if he could "speak to a nice policeman".

A Durham Police spokesman said: "We are happy to help people in genuine circumstances, but abusing the 999 system is not necessary.

"The operators become frustrated and concerned that a genuine emergency can't get through.

"In terms of people abusing the system using mobile phones, when we can trace their number we can disconnect them."