A man from Co. Kilkenny faked a heart attack last week and called 999 (emergency services in Ireland) because he needed a ride home.

After a night out socializing, the man, who has not been named, couldn't get his hands on a taxi.

In his drunken state, he thought it would be a great idea to call an amublance and pretend he was having a heart attack.

The ambulance service arrived and believed the man's bogus claim.

They brought him to St. Luke's Hospital in Kilkenny where the patient stayed a few minutes in the A & E unit and walked the rest of the way home.

Locals in Kilkenny are disgusted with the man's ignorance and lack of respect for the service.

"He has done this before and I think it's disgraceful," a source told a local paper.

"It's just not right. Someone could be dead waiting for an ambulance while that lad uses the ambulance as a taxi," he fumed.

"That little p**** is back out drinking today and someone could be dead because they didn't reach the hospital on time."

The National Health Service in Ireland issued the following statement: "There were just under 12,500 calls processed by ambulances at the Carlow and Kilkenny bases over a two-year period (to end of 2009). Only in 0.78% of these calls was a question raised as to their validity. The HSE, in common with other emergency services do encounter a small number of cases from time to time. It is the policy of the HSE to monitor these call-outs closely."