Lusardi dials 999 to get to panto on time

Former glamour girl Linda Lusardi dialled 999 when heavy traffic threatened to make her late for a pantomime performance of Snow White, police said today.

When Lusardi's car hit jams on the M25 this weekend she feared missing the opening curtain of the show in which she is starring as the Wicked Queen.

However, instead of waiting patiently, she called the emergency services asking for permission to drive down the hard shoulder and undertake the queue of stationary vehicles.

The incident took place on Saturday as the 50-year-old former Page 3 model headed to the Swan Theatre, High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire for the matinee performance.

A spokeswoman from Hertfordshire Police said: "She called us at 1.30pm on Saturday asking for permission to use the hard shoulder. Obviously, we declined. 999 is for emergencies only.

"There hadn't been an accident, it was just heavy traffic.

"If someone was very ill or pregnant expecting a child we might be able to facilitate something like that - in an emergency - but clearly getting to a pantomime doesn't constitute that."

Richard Linford, from Qdos Entertainment managing Lusardi's pantomime production, told the Daily Mail: "Miss Lusardi has no comment to make. But I can say everybody's human and we don't all run like robots."