A distressed caller dialled 999 after spotting a cat following them down the road.

The Metropolitan Police received an influx of 9,500 emergency calls on Wednesday (June 21), of which 1,385 required urgent assistance.

And Chief Superintendent Dan Ivey, commander of the command and control centres, revealed among those calls was one person who called police after being followed by a cat in Finchley.

He tweeted: “Can’t quite believe I’m typing this but I’ve just been told one of our most recent calls on 999 was someone reporting being followed down the road by a cat. Yes A CAT. I had to listen to the call myself to believe it.”

Expanding on his tweet, he explained the complainant said they were being followed for “some time”.

The caller did not fear their feline footpad had malevolent intent, and Chief Supt Ivey explained that they “genuinely thought it was a lost cat, and expected the police to come and collect it”.

The Belsize Village Business Association jokingly responded to the tweet, saying they hoped it wasn’t “Obama of Belsize Village”.

The association wrote: “He does follow people but it is to say hello. He is innocent.”

Police ruled out any concerns Obama had been causing mischief. Chief Supt Ivey said: “Pleased to say we’ve checked out Obama’s alibi and he isn’t a ‘cat of interest’.”

Police urged people only to call 999 about genuine emergencies.

The Met wrote online: “Our call handlers are working hard to respond to the demand but to help prioritise the most urgent calls, please report non-emergency matters to either 101 or met.police.uk.”