WEST Craven councillors have hit out at frequent closures of Barnoldswick Police Station.

Three councillors from Barnoldswick’s Craven ward told a meeting of the West Craven Area Committee of their frustration at temporary closures of the front desk at Barnoldswick Police Station due to staff shortages.

“As councillors we’re quite disgusted about this and we don’t think it’s acceptable,” said Coun David Whipp.

“I wonder how frequent these closures are. The next thing we know, they’ll shut them down all together.”

“I take on board what you’ve said,” responded Insp Paul Goodall, of Pendle Police. “This problem is replicated in other parts of the division. It’s tricky to manage and deal with.

“We’ll try to make some movements to prevent these closures from happening again, but obviously the proof will be in the pudding.

“Any projected closures will be advertised to avoid wasted journeys to the station.

“I accept this causes problems and I apologise.” Insp Goodall said maternity leave and long-term sickness were amongst the reasons that three staff members are currently off work.

However, Coun Ken Hartley said: “It’s a much wider problem than just the front desk issue. People are getting a shockingly poor response when making 101 calls to the police.

“It seems the belt and the braces are failing,” he said. “It’s not acceptable when there is no fixed point location where you can talk to police.”

Speaking about West Craven, he added: “We poor souls who live in no man’s land are gradually being deprived of services.”

“West Craven seems to be getting the thin edge of everything,” said Coun Jennifer Purcell. “We’ve got fantastic police officers in Barnoldswick and that’s why we have such low crime.

“But when we ring up 101, it’s absolutely appalling that we get no response,” she said.

“Why don’t people keep ringing 999 until the police get the message.”

“What we do have is a 101 system that is failing,” acknowledged Insp Goodall.

“There are a whole plethora of issues around the contact management system and how it works.”