Bizarre local requests made to Brit council call centres revealed

London, Aug 20 (ANI): British council call centres have for the first time revealed some of the bizarre local requests they get from people.

Some of the calls included trying to register the death of a person, who was still alive, asking where pest control officers buy their rifles and looking for a summary of the plot of an 18th century play.

A caller to Surrey County Council wanted to know if he was allowed to roll up a zebra crossing, while another resident in the borough asked whether he could put a dead fox in a recycling bin.

A motorist called Sutton Council to ask if a car park was haunted after she thought her vehicle was in a different place from where she left it.

A German man in Northumberland went into the customer services reception area and demanded political asylum.

Council customer service centres handle more than 50 million calls each year with most of coming from people wanting information about council tax, environmental services or parking.

Local Government Association chairman Baroness Eaton said the 350 councils in England and Wales it represented had to be "ready for anything - from the mundane to the mind-boggling".

"These examples show just how broad a range of issues council staff deal with each day," the BBC quoted Eaton as saying.

"While the vast majority of calls fall within the bounds of councils' usual responsibilities, there are occasions when call handlers are left baffled.

"The fact that councils are so often the first port of call for residents who are seeking a solution to their problems shows just how central a role councils play in the lives of their communities," she added. (ANI)