KFC

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said the "joke" call came on 21 February after the fast food chain closed some UK outlets due delivery problems.

The caller said he "had an emergency" and had "to go to Burger King now".

A GMP spokesman said the man put lives at risk by keeping call handlers from answering real emergencies.

He said the call was made at 17:20 GMT and the force had received 74 emergency calls between 17:00 and 18:00 "of which 73 were answered.

Last week, the fried chicken chain switched its delivery contract to DHL, which blamed "operational issues" for the supply disruption.

It was unclear when the delivery problems would be rectified, a KFC spokesperson said.

Workers are being encouraged to take holiday but would not be forced to do so, he added.

"Our teams are working flat out all hours to get the rest back up and running as soon as possible - but it's too early to say how long it will take to clear the backlog."

It was the fourth straight increase for the Dow Jones industrial average. Industrial and energy companies had some of the biggest gains. Boeing climbed 2 percent.

KFC owner Yum Brands plunged 19 percent after the company cut its profit forecast for the year, citing weakness in its China operations. The company also owns Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.

The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 122 points, or 0.7 percent, to 16,912.