A man with plans to move to Spain wanted reassurance that he would not encounter nudists walking through the streets. Another wanted information on the construction of plug sockets. A European filmmaker wanted help finding an English pensioner for a role.
On Thursday, the U.K.'s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) revealed some truly bizarre inquiries made to its consular service over the past year. Its official role is to provide emergency help to British nationals overseas.
"Our consular staff are a helpful bunch and do an amazing job helping out Brits in trouble around the world—but it is important that people remember they are there to help with genuine emergencies and not as an alternative to directory enquiries," said Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister James Duddridge.
"Every minute they spend handling a call requesting advice on butlers or nudists is time taken away from dealing with life and death cases, so I urge the public to think before picking up the phone."
Almost half a million calls were made in total, with the majority related to serious incidents. The consular service dealt with 3,250 Britons in hospital, 4,770 who were arrested, and the families of 3,670 who died overseas. Nearly 38,000 replacement travel documents were issued.
According to the FCO , some of the other ludicrous yet comical calls included:
- a homesick expat asking where he could buy English bacon
- a lady in Lebanon looking for help to recruit an English butler
- a holidaymaker trying to find travel advice for a visit to Coventry
- a woman who was disappointed the British Embassy had not sent someone to give her a tour of St. Petersburg on her arrival in Russia
- a British man asking for assistance to get illegal employment in Singapore
- a mother asking for the contact details of a young British YouTuber, as her son was a fan of his Minecraft videos
- a man in South Korea asking what he could do with his old pound notes.
A study carried out by the U.K. Travel Habit Tracking Research Report in September 2015 revealed that almost three quarters of Brits (74 percent) believed that the FCO could get them out of prison if they were arrested. Almost a quarter (22 percent) were certain that the FCO could arrange for them to get home if they lost a plane ticket and 15 percent presumed that the FCO would lend them money in the event that theirs was lost or stolen.
"We receive thousands of calls a year, and do all we can to help people who find themselves in difficulty abroad," said Kelvin Green, head of the FCO's global contact centres. "But we cannot help people make travel arrangements or lifestyle plans, lend them money or pay medical and other bills for them."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
