Edinburgh dad's 999 call sparked a large-scale emergency response after claiming neighbour was trying to gas him.

A distraught dad sparked a large-scale emergency response by claiming his neighbour was trying gas him.

Artur Kalinowski called the police and said he could smell gas in his flat and that a neighbour was intentionally gassing his property.

Officers raced to the block of flats in Edinburgh where they found the 37-year-old hanging out his living room window shouting he was “feeling unwell”.

Kalinowski then refused to allow officers into his flat to check for a gas leak and later admitted making the story up in a bid to see his son who he said he was not allowed to see by his ex-partner.

Emergency case: Edinburgh Sheriff Court

Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told seven police officers from the public order unit, three constables, the fire service and a gas engineer were all called out to deal with the incident on March 6 this year.

Kalinowski appeared at the capital’s sheriff court yesterdayand admitted a charge of wasting police time.

Prosecutor Alan Wickham told the court Kalinowski made a 999 call at around 6pm on March 6 this year claiming he could smell gas and that “his neighbour was trying to gas him”.

Mr Wickham said: “Three minutes later police attended to find the accused hanging out the window on the first floor.

“The accused was confrontational and refused to allow them access and continued to shout he could smell gas and was feeling unwell.

“Due to the concerns raised police arranged for a gas engineer to attend and check for a leak, but he found there was no gas being supplied to the property due to him not topping up the meter.

“The accused then stated ‘I only made the call because I wanted you to show me my son.”

Solicitor Emma Martin defending, said her client had “not been thinking straight at the time” and he was “under a lot of stress” due to not being allowed to see his son by his former partner after they had split up.

She added: “He did wake up feeling unwell and genuinely believed he was being gassed. He felt unwell throughout the whole day which caused him to fall asleep.

“But after police arrived he began to realise it was all a mistake and he shouted from his window he no longer needed help and there was no gas leak.

“He does fully accept he wasted police time on that evening.

Sheriff John Cook said: “This is a serious matter and you put the police to a lot of trouble.

“Initially you did think that there was a gas leak but then realised there wasn’t and you kept the officers there and that is very unacceptable.

“It was a great waste of resources.”

Kalinowski was sentenced to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work in the community.

He pleaded guilty to a charge of wasting police time by falsely claiming gas was leaking at his property causing the public to be temporarily deprived of police officers services at Parkhead View, Edinburgh, on March 6 this year.

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