CONCERNS have been raised over the length of time spent on hold to a non-emergency police line.

At the monthly meeting of Connah's Quay town council, Cllr Antony Wren expressed his frustration after waiting over ten minutes on hold to 101 when reporting a crime.

He told Inspector Gareth Cust, of the North Flintshire policing team, that property at the Mill Lane Allotments had been broken into and damaged and the call was made about 11am.

He said: "The service we received was fantastic but when we called the emergency service, we were on hold for a long time before actually speaking to someone. The follow up service was excellent."

Inspector Cust told members to use the online webchat to report issues, which causes less frustration.

He added: "It is a problem and it’s a frustrating problem for me. I’m trying to answer for the call centre in St Asaph. It’s frustrating for us to give a good service locally but that confidence is lost from the initial calls.

"I do feed the issues back, I don’t know what the answer is but it works on a priority basis."

Cllr Wren said due to the time of the call during the mid-week, it surprised him he had to wait so long.

Concerns were also raised over having to choose what language you prefer every time someone calls the control room.

Inspector Cust added: "We have up-skilled to apply with the welsh language act to give people the option. I can try and speak to someone in the control room command and try get some information of how we are trying to solve some problems.

"The reporting system online is another way of trying to contact us and give intelligence."