Thankfully, everything's okay with the wee lad, Steve. Having said that, it's no thanks to the Emergency Services. Changed days ... because, at one time - hoax call or not - there was an immediate response whenever anyone dialled 999!

Let me give you an example:

35 years ago, or thereabouts - when my OWN kids were nippers themselves - my mum and dad happened to be babysitting for us one evening. Shortly before Iris and I were due to go out, I became aware of my father periodically clutching at his chest, and commented on the fact. Despite his protestations to the contrary, it was clear he was in considerable discomfort.

Suspecting a probable heart attack, I ran out of the house to the nearest telephone kiosk (we didn't have a home phone back then) and called an ambulance - while Iris and my mother did THEIR best to make my father as comfortable as possible.

... ASTONISHINGLY, by the time I'd managed to return, a couple of paramedics had already reached the car park just down from our house. And ... within less than five minutes ... my dad was on his way to the Cardiac Unit at Perth Royal Infirmary - accompanied by my mum and me.

Turned out my dad had suffered a MASSIVE coronary. But ... thanks to the prompt action of the ambulance crew ... his life was saved, and he survived for another eleven years or so, before succumbing to a second [fatal] cardiac infarction complicated by emphysema.