PEOPLE throwing snowballs prompted more 999 calls to the police than any other type of weather-related incident yesterday, it has been revealed.

Between 6am and 6pm on Wednesday (January 6), Essex Police said they received nearly 100 emergency calls across the county linked to the snow, with a review of the figures showing that "anti-social snowballing" eclipsed the numbers phoning in about car crashes and broken down vehicles.

Operational commander, Chief Insp Richard Phillibrown, said the number of snowballing incidents dropped as soon as darkness fell in the region yesterday evening.

He also urged children across the region to be "considerate" when playing with snow.