CHESHIRE Police have been praised for their handling of a situation when they received a call from a woman who would only communicate by coughing.

The woman – who was terrified that there was an intruder in her house – made a 999 call yesterday evening.

She was too afraid to speak and communicated to the call handler by coughing.

Through a series of questions the handler was able to determine her address and sent officers to the scene.

Fortunately, the police officers discovered that nobody had broken into the house.

Just before 6.20pm yesterday (Tuesday, January 2), Cheshire Police tweeted: “We have just taken a 999 call from a distressed female who could only communicate by coughing as she was scared that someone was in her house. Through careful questioning we managed to get her address and officers attended and were able to confirm no one had broken in #Hereforyou”

After police tweeted about the incident, Twitter users were quick to praise them, particularly the person that took the 999 call.

Imploded Atom tweeted: “Nice thinking outside the box! No harm this time but you didn't know that. Person felt safe and that's a win!”

Paul Wright tweeted: “Excellent work by the call handler.”

Sarah Wright tweeted: “Well whoever the call handler was bravo that must be stressful all round!”