A 999 call from someone complaining their vehicle was blocked by another vehicle and two calls from babies who had been given mobile phones to play with were among a slew of bogus calls taken by Thames Valley Police last night.

The force also said it took a call from someone complaining a trumpet had been left outside their house, who was told to take it to a police station.

Officers reported every bogus and bizarre call they had to deal with between 5pm and 11pm last night on Twitter as part of a 'tweetathon' to highlight the pressures that call-handlers are under.

In total the force said it received 299 '999' calls and 752 '101' non-emergency calls in those six hours.

Among the 'highlights' was a 999 call at 8.30pm from someone who wanted the police to help them because their vehicle was blocked by another vehicle.

The force tweeted: "Advice given to caller that this call would be more appropriate for 101 as this is not an emergency."

At one point the force said that in the space of 20 minutes it had received two '999' calls from babies who had been given a phone to play with.

Operators also took a 101 call from a driver reporting rush hour traffic in Reading.

The force also tweeted a number of serious calls, including a lorry driver spotted cruising down the M40 with his feet on the dashboard, presumably using some sort of cruise-control or automatic driver.

At 6.45pm the force said a driver called 101 to ask if he needed to report a deer that had been hit by a vehicle.

The officer tweeting clarified that the driver did not, and that under the Roads Traffic Act 1988, the only animals hit by a vehicle which need to be reported to police are 'pig, cattle, goat, ass, sheep, horse, mule and dog'.

The force also revealed some of the bizarre calls it had received in the past including 'there's a huge spider in my kitchen' and a man who called 999 to complain a car had driven through a puddle and splashed him.

Yesterday alone officers said they took 20 '999' calls which were either silent or 'muffled background noise'. Officers reminded people to be careful where they stored their phone and not to 'pocket dial'.

The force said: "Only call 999 if a life is at risk, a crime is actually taking place, offenders are nearby or there has been a serious incident i.e. a road traffic collision.

"You should use 101 to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response or to give the police information about crime in your area."

The 'tweetathon' comes after the Oxford Mail revealed last month that Thames Valley Police has this year had to handle 60,000 extra calls compared to last year - including thousands of extra bogus calls.