The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has published a list of the most bizarre and inappropriate calls consular staff have reported over the past 12 months, including a “homesick expat” seeking advice on where to buy English bacon in mainland Europe.
Other spurious bids for assistance included a woman seeking help to recruit an English butler in Lebanon, a British man asking for assistance in getting unlawful employment in Singapore, and a man querying the prevalence of town-centre nudists in Spain.
The list, issued ahead of the start of the main holiday season, was accompanied by statistics on calls related to genuine emergencies consular staff dealt with over the past year, which showed around 500,000 calls had been taken by the consular service.
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The FCO said it had helped 3,250 British citizens who were hospitalised abroad over the past 12 months, assisted the families of 3,670 citizens who died abroad, and issued almost 38,000 replacement travel documents.
It said assistance had been provided to 4,770 British citizens arrested overseas. However it pointed to research from 2015 that suggested 74% of Brits believed that the FCO could get them out of jail if they were arrested abroad.
The research, conducted by UK Travel Habit Tracking Research Report, also found that 22% of people thought the FCO could arrange for them to get home if they lost their tickets, and 15% would lend them money if theirs was lost or stolen.
Kelvin Green, head of the FCO’s global contact centres, said the expectations were unfounded.
“We receive thousands of calls a year, and do all we can to help people who find themselves in difficulty abroad,” he said.
“But we cannot help people make travel arrangements or lifestyle plans, lend them money or pay medical and other bills for them.
“I would urge people to prepare well before they travel, making sure they have valid travel documents and insurance.”
FCO minister James Duddridge said it was vital that Brits abroad did not use the consular service as an alternative to directory enquireies.
“Every minute they spend handling a call requesting advice on butlers or nudists is time taken away from dealing with life and death cases,” he said.
The FCO’s full ‘bizarre call’ list
- A man planning to move to Spain who was worried he would encounter nudists walking through the streets;
- 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 European filmmaker looking for an English pensioner to play a part in his new film;
- 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 confused businessman looking for information on the construction of plug sockets; and
- A man in South Korea asking what he could do with his old pound notes.