The paper's website www.southwalesargus.co.uk used audio of the real calls and urged readers who recognised their voices to name and shame the culprits.

Visitors to the site were able to listen to the recordings which included children saying a school was on fire and a man claiming there had been a motorway crash.

Now South Wales Fire Service say the number of incidents has fallen by 22 per cent to 302 per year since the Stop Hoax Callers campaign started and saved the fire service £165,000.

Fire investigator Mick Flanagan said: "The website played a hugely important part. We are grateful to the South Wales Argus for this, and for giving us excellent coverage of every deliberate incident we have had in the Gwent area."

Assistant editor Mark Templeton said it was the first web-only campaign the South Wales Argus had run.

He said: "The feeling from the fire service is that the thought of having your voice heard on our website if you make a hoax call is enough to deter some people from doing it."

www.southwalesargus.co.uk was the winner of Newsquest's 2008 Website of the Year award.

Submitting Information

Click here to have your say on this story