Wrexham Businesses Criticise Police Non-Emergency Phone Line

Wrexham businesses have criticised the non-emergency police phone line for North Wales describing it as “a waste of time”.

The 101 number was set up in 2010 by North Wales Police to deal with less serious issues and to ease pressure on the 999 service.

However, at a meeting of the Wrexham Town Centre Forum traders said on a number of occasions they had received no response when calling 101 to report issues in the town.

Owner of the Bank Bar on the High Street, Alex Jones, said that he had been left on the phone for seven minutes with no response when trying to report a group of people drinking on the streets outside his business.

He said: “I spent seven minutes on the phone to 101 trying to report a group of drunks on the street outside my bar on Saturday morning, after that it went dead. 101 is a waste of time.”

Kim Sheridan from Just Tea and Coffee said she had encountered similar issues when trying to use the non emergency number.

Councillor Hugh Jones Lead Member for Communities, Partnerships & Collaboration said that Wrexham Council were aware of the issue and that the phone line was “fundamentally not working”.

“Its a North Wales problem,” said Cllr Jones “101 is not functioning properly so we’re pressuring North Wales Police to do something about it.”

Leader of the Council Neil Rogers told the meeting that both himself and the council’s chief executive, Dr Helen Paterson had raised the issue with Chief Inspector Alex Goss from North Wales Police.

Paul Shea the Police Call Centre Manager said “The 101 system is exactly the same as the other non-emergency lines. The Interactive Voice Response answer service is used to divert people who do not want to report on going events to the correct department or extension. It is in line with the IVR in use at other police forces and companies.  If an event is of an urgent matter people should call 999.”