Police Scotland has apologised after an embarrassing blunder led to an Aberdeen man receiving more than a dozen calls from journalists asking about police incidents over the festive period.

It later emerged that press officers in the force’s communications HQ had mistakenly diverted calls to the mobile number of the gentleman, who has no connection to the force and so had no idea what the journalists were calling him for.

Normally when the communications office is closed, calls are diverted to a number that is answered by an on call press officer, but on this occasion a random member of the public was forced to field inquiries.

The man, who did not wish to be named, told the Press and Journal newspaper: “I really don’t know what to make of it all. I have had about 16 calls. I had a couple of calls from one newspaper and had to say ‘Look, I don’t know what you are on about.’

“They said ‘What, are you not the coppers?’

“It began on Christmas Eve. I started to get calls from newspapers asking for the police and I had to explain to them I wasn’t the police.

“The first time it happened, it was really strange.

“Fortunately it has just been media calls. Nothing major or anything, no one wanting to report a crime. I didn’t go to the police about it as I thought they would eventually stop.”

A spokesman for Police Scotland told the newspaper that it appeared a line used by journalists had been diverted to an incorrect number, adding: “We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience this has caused.”

Photo: Diamondmagna (Creative Commons)