A VILLAGER has hit out at North Yorkshire Police after he was unable to get through to a telephone operator to inform them of a group of men acting suspiciously late at night.

Haulage driver Simon Atkinson, 36, of Tollerton, has criticised the force after failing to get through to the Northallerton control room several times on two occasions.

He called to pass on information about a group of three men he saw "kicking about" in the early hours in fields close to his village home near Easingwold.

Although the situation was not an emergency, he said police officers often asked to be kept informed of suspicious activity, particularly in vulnerable rural communities.

And he said he was not willing to dial 999 and waste the time of operators on the potentially vital life line.

"Is anybody actually policing North Yorkshire?" he said, "I'm six foot two and can look after myself, but what if I had been a little old lady?

"It just seems to be more and more difficult to get hold of a local police officer.

"If you can't get in touch at the local level what the hell are people supposed to do? I'm not an old man, but I can see a decline in police services. It's a joke."

Despite calling three or four times in the space of 20 minutes and listening to a recorded message for some time, Mr Atkinson, could not speak to a control room operator.

He eventually gave up and approached the men, who made off across private land on quad bikes, followed by a number of dogs.

When he phoned the next morning he once again failed to get through to an operator, despite eight attempts.

He said: "It's sad that in this day and age with modern technology you get this kind of response. This situation needs looking into."

Police spokesman Tony Lidgate admitted there have been occasions where the force's high standards for call handling have not been met.

He apologised for the failure, but said that action was being taken to improve the service for the future.

A review of the call-handling system was under way and more telephone controllers have been recruited, but it took time to train them, he said.

Updated: 11:27 Monday, September 02, 2002