LENGTHY police response times to two incidents in Buntingford were caused by a lack of resources, says a police inspector. Neighbourhood Inspector Andrew Piper told a meeting of Buntingford Town Council that Herts police s central control room, based in W

LENGTHY police response times to two incidents in Buntingford were caused by a lack of resources, says a police inspector.

Neighbourhood Inspector Andrew Piper told a meeting of Buntingford Town Council that Herts police's central control room, based in Welwyn Garden City, works on a system of prioritisation.

He said: "The control room has to dispatch officers to calls from across Hertfordshire. Unfortunately major incidents tend to suck in resources.

"I am 100 per cent certain that they would have sent someone out sooner if the resources had been available."

However, Cllr Stan Bull said: "You have to see things from our point of view. We represent the members of our community and it doesn't go down very well when people hear things like this."

As reported in The Crow last month, a disturbance outside the Brambles pub was not responded to until the next day, despite ­several calls from ­residents.

Insp Piper added: "I have taken your concerns to the senior manager of the control room, and we will be looking closely at how we can improve the service to outlying towns such as Buntingford.