Ananova:

A Japanese man has been jailed for repeatedly calling an ambulance to take him home after going out drinking.

Satoshi Nakagawa, 55, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison after trying the tactic 50 times a year, reports the Mainichi Daily News.

Judge Hidenaga Manabe said: "He committed a selfish crime by obstructing the highly urgent duties of ambulances."

The final straw for Nakagawa came last June when he was sitting down on a road in Takamatsu and asked a passerby to call an ambulance for him.

An ambulance dispatched by a local fire station arrived, and Nakagawa demanded that paramedics take him home.

The ambulance, however, headed for the fire station, not his home, which prompted Nakagawa to poke one of the paramedics in the cheek.

Nakagawa had called for an ambulance about 50 times a year since August 2003, police said.