From asking if it ok to keep a crocodile in a back garden, to how best to marinade a steak, a new list shows the weirdest calls to council call centres over the past 12 months.
The Local Government Association (LGA) has complied a top 10 list of the most bizarre queries received by councils over the past year.
The list includes a call to Reigate and Banstead Council asking how it takes for an egg to hatch under a lamp and a call to staff at Newark and Sherwood DC from a resident wanting to know how to grow mangoes.
Peter Fleming, chair of the LGA’s Improvement and Innovation Board, said: ‘These light-hearted examples show the wide range of issues council staff deal with each day. Councils literally have to be ready for anything from the serious to the mundane and sometimes even mind-boggling.
‘Councils try to help callers with support and advice as much as they possibly can. While the vast majority of calls fall within the bounds of councils' usual responsibilities, there are occasions when call handlers are left baffled.’
Top 10 bizarre calls to councils:
1. Are there any regulations on keeping a crocodile in my back garden? (Reigate and Banstead BC)
2. Can you teach me how to use a chain-saw? (Chelmsford BC)
3. Do you know where I could get an old bath that I could fill with custard? (LB Sutton)
4. Can you send a pest control officer to remove a frog from the bottom of the communal stairs in my block of flats? (Crawley BC)
5. Am I allowed to bury my horse in my back garden? (Warwickshire CC)
6. "I've tried the number given on your website for the library but it doesn't work." "What was the number?" "0900 1800" "I'm sorry those are the times the library is open between..." (Surrey CC)
7. How can I get permission to pitch a tent on the central reservation of the A35 trunk road? (Derby City Council)
8. How do you make a marinade to put on my barbecue steaks? (Newark and Sherwood DC).
9. A lady rang to say she couldn't get any reception on her TV. She'd already contacted the police and the fire brigade but they couldn't help, so she called the council (Rossendale BC).
10. Can you remove all porn from the internet? (Westminster City Council).
