Who you gonna call? Essex Council dished out the unorthodox advice
Cheeky council officials told a worried resident to contact GHOSTBUSTERS for details of past paranormal activity.
Staff at Essex County Council offered the tongue-in-cheek reply to a Freedom of Information request asking for cases of paranormal activity dealt with by the council over the past decade.
The response read: "For all investigation concerning paranormal activity please contact 555-2368 Ghostbusters and ask to speak with Dr Venkman, Dr Stantz or Dr Spengler."
The doctors mentioned are ghost-hunting characters played by Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis in 1980s blockbuster film Ghostbusters.
Other requests within the FOI for details on UFO sightings, zombie attacks and pandemics were referred to Mulder and Skully from The X-Files, Shaun from zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead and Major Henry West from 28 Days Later.
The anonymous Freedom of Information request was received last month but the response was only published today.
Information requested included the number of UFO sightings over the past decade and any contingency plans in place to protect the personal information of staff and clients "should there be an invasion of zombies or any kind of viral infection that could cause a pandemic".
The mystery requester was told: "For information regarding UFO sightings please contact Fox Mulder or Dana Scully who have been seconded from the FBI to Essex County Council X-Files project."
Zombie requests were directed to Shaun at The Winchester Tavern, South London - the favourite drinking spot of Simon Pegg's character in zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead.
Information on 'viral pandemics' was referred to Major Henry West from Danny Boyle's post-apocalyptic horror film, 28 Days Later.
But the respondent was warned: "Major Henry can only be contacted 28 days later from the receipt of this response."
Earlier this year, Essex county council leader, David Finch, spoke out about the amount of money the authority wasted responding to 'trivial' Freedom of Information requests.
Each request must be responded to within 20 working days and can cost taxpayers up to £450 a time in labour costs.
A spokesman for the council said: "Earlier this year ECC revealed it spent almost £250,000 dealing with FOI responses in 2013. It has seen a 60% in FOI requests between 2011 and 2013. In 2011 dealing with requests took up 436 officer days. By 2013 this figure had increased to almost 700.
"During the first three months of 2014, we received around 750 requests which, if the trend continues, would result in 3,000 requests received this year."
Taken from
mirror.co.uk
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