BOLTON'S three MPs have thrown their weight behind the "Shop a Hoaxer" campaign to trap 999 hoax callers.

The Bolton Evening News and the fire service have launched a joint campaign to track down the people who put the lives of others at risk by reporting false emergencies to the fire service.

Readers can listen to hoaxers making calls in recordings put on our website.

We want readers to identify them, if they can.

Today the town's three Labour MPs backed the campaign, saying it could potentially save lives.

Bolton North-east MP David Crausby said: "I think it's an excellent idea because some people are very good at recognising voices and I hope it catches a few of the hoaxers out.

The emergency services have got enough to do, especially at peak times, without people risking lives with hoax calls.

"They may well think it's funny, but it may stop firefighters getting to more serious calls."

Brian Iddon, MP for Bolton South-east, agreed: "I think it's a great idea and I fully support it. Anything that prevents people wasting the time of the emergency services is to be welcomed," he said.

Ruth Kelly, MP for Bolton West, added: "It is vital that our emergency services are able to get on with the job of helping those in need.

"It is utterly senseless to divert them from this task by making malicious hoax calls.

"People who make hoax calls clearly do not care that they are putting the lives of relatives, friends and neighbours at risk.

"If you have any information on hoax callers, I urge you to back this campaign, back our firefighters and emergency services, and contact Crimestoppers now."

We launched the campaign yesterday by playing on our website a recording of a woman making a hoax call claiming a fish and chip shop in Johnson Fold was on fire.

And there is another hoax call on the website today. It is of a man reporting a bedroom fire.

If you can identlfy the man, phone the Crimestoppers number.

Through the link between the fire service and the Bolton Evening News, anybody who makes a hoax call in future risks having that call heard by thousands of people with a very good chance that they will be tracked down.

Bolton's firefighters were called out as a result of 306 hoaxes between April, 2005, and March this year nearly one a day at a total cost of more than £500,000.

All 999 calls are traced and recorded and the fire service collaborates with mobile phone providers and can request that phones be disconnected.

Adults are likely to face a fine or prison.

Offenders can be fined £80 on the spot or be sent to court, which could result in either a £5,000 fine or six months in prison.

Click HERE to listen to Tuesday's tape, a man in Breightmet calling to report a fire in the bedroom of a house, and click HERE to listen to Monday's tape from a woman claiming to report a fire in the Johnson Fold area. If you think you know who either of them are, call Crimestoppers, anonymously if you prefer, on their freephone number: 0800 555111.