A DISTRICT councillor has criticised a new police telephone system which left her waiting a full night before she was able to get a response.

A meeting of the Teesdale Police Community Consultative Group was told that calls to police stations in County Durham were now routed to two call centres in the north and south of the district.

But Teesdale District councillor Margaret Hamilton said that when she called police after an irate constituent called at her home in Barnard Castle one evening, she was unable to get through until 10.30am the next day.

Coun Hamilton said: "I'd had this problem with one of the local electorate, and the man was so angry I thought he was going to give himself a heart attack the way he was carrying on. It was quite frightening.

"But I couldn't get through until the next day. I don't know what I'd have done in an emergency."

On a separate occasion, Coun Hamilton told the meeting she had problems with the new operator system after she called to report a gang attacking a boy.

She said that because the operator was based in Bishop Auckland she did not know street names and landmarks in Barnard Castle.

Coun Hamilton said: "At the end of the day, there's nothing like the local bobby shop. If this is modern technology, give me the old fashioned way."

Superintendent Barry Knevitt, in charge of communications for Durham Police, acknowledged there had been problems with the new operator system. He said some calls had not registered when people had been calling.