Sorry officers, we've towed off your cars

The police left their vehicles in the car park next to the state-of-the art building in Greenbank, Blackburn, but returned to discover they had been removed.

It is understood a senior officer had expressed concern about the way the cars were left and the possibility of them obstructing other vehicles.

The vehicles were returned to the officers from the compound in Clayton-le-Moors where they had been taken when they returned to the car park to discover what had happened.

Today, divisional commander Chief Supt John Thompson said there had been problems with parking while trades people were still working on the complex and because parking bays have yet to be marked out.

The station, which opened last month, will be the nerve centre for all of East Lancashire's police operations and equipped with the latest technology.

It is the base for Eastern Division and 415 staff moved from the old Victorian station in Northgate last week. The new building stands three-storeys high on the Greenbank Business Park, at Blackburn's Whitebirk Industrial Estate.

Along with a "walk-in" station, currently being built at Blackburn Railway Station, the new building is part of an £8million scheme to modernise policing for the area.

Chief Superintendent Thompson said: "We have recently moved into new premises and we still have a lot of trades people in the building and with that comes portable cabins and skips.

"This has limited the number of car parking spaces available to staff.

"Bays have not yet been marked out and this has meant there has been some problems with parking.

"On Friday a decision was made to remove two staff members' vehicles which were later collected by them."

The incident raised both smiles and concerns from fellow officers.

One said: "It seems a bit over the top, it's not like they were blocking anybody else in. It's obvious who they belong to and it's not as if there weren't any other spaces available."