British tourist’s veg sausage hunt in India among UK’s 2018 quirky requests list

LONDON: A UK tourist calling up the British High Commission in New Delhi to buy vegetarian sausages is among one of the quirky requests made by Britons travelling abroad in 2018, authorities here said on Sunday.
The unnamed man’s vegetarian sausage hunt in India is on a list of top 10 requests which the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) highlighted it cannot help with, while stressing on the crucial consular and medical support it can offer its nationals abroad.
The man in New Delhi asking what time the British High Commission opened, as he had heard it sold vegetarian sausages and wanted to buy some, was ranked seventh on the list, which was topped by a caller from the US asking which celebrity contestant had won the popular BBC show ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.
Among the other quirky requests included a man enquiring if there were vampires in Poland because a woman he met online asked what blood type he was before they met for their first date and a caller in the Canary Islands wanted his hotel to be persuaded to give him a different room as a stray cat had “broken into” his existing one and peed on his bed. I can regretfully confirm that the Foreign Office isn’t able to offer advice on vampires, rogue stray cats or ‘Strictly’ contestants. And our capacity to deploy veggie sausages remains sadly lacking,” an FCO spokesperson said. “But in all seriousness, getting into trouble abroad can be daunting and upsetting.
If you find yourself in an emergency in another country, contact the nearest British Embassy, High Commission or Consulate and our consular staff will do everything they can to help,” the spokesperson said. In 2018, the FCO said it received more than 330,000 calls from British people who needed its help. This included more than 3,400 people who were hospitalised and 4,900 arrested. (PTI)