IT is meant to be the eyes and ears of police in York, monitoring the city’s network of CCTV cameras round the clock.

But a former member of staff at City of York Council’s CCTV control room claimed it was regularly left unmanned for hours, with the bank of video screens switched off.

Wayne Garbutt also claimed that when the screens were switched on, staff who were meant to be monitoring them sometimes instead read newspapers, looked on the internet or watched DVDs of programmes such as On The Buses.

The allegations have been put by The Press to the council, which said some claims had already been investigated, but any new issues now raised by Mr Garbutt would be investigated as a matter of urgency.

The authority said it was committed to working with police to protect residents’ and visitors’ safety, and round-the-clock monitoring of the CCTV cameras formed a major part of that work.

Bill Woolley, director of city strategy, said under no circumstances was it permissible for staff to undertake any activities that interfered with their monitoring responsibilities while on duty.

But he also said there was a legal requirement for staff to have frequent breaks from their duties. “Staff have the option of leaving the control room during these breaks, or remaining in it,” he said.

He said the authority took any concerns raised by employees extremely seriously. “While employed by the council, Mr Garbutt raised several issues that were dealt with in accordance with the council’s HR procedures,” he said.

“However, since choosing to leave the council, Mr Garbutt has raised a number of other issues. These have also been considered in accordance with the council’s policies and procedures.

“We will look into any new issues that have now been raised by Mr Garbutt as a matter of urgency.”

Mr Garbutt, who received an area commander’s certificate of appreciation earlier this year for his dedication and diligence following a sexual assault in the city centre which was caught on camera, claimed he had decided to “blow the whistle” to The Press after his complaints to the council had been “brushed under the carpet”.

He said the lack of response led him to mount his own surveillance campaign inside the control room at York police station, taking photos and video with an HD iphone.

Pictures he has supplied to The Press show a bank of blank screens, and a member of staff reading The Press and looking at the internet when Mr Garbutt alleges they should have been monitoring the screens.

Mr Garbutt, who worked in the room on the night shift from May 2008 to May 2010, said he had loved his job in the centre but became increasingly concerned over the two years about a “lax approach” to maintaining 24-hour monitoring of the camera network, which was one of the key parts of the job.

“The CCTV network of cameras across the city is the eyes and ears of the police force,” he said. “The control room staff can spot all kinds of incidents on the bank of 17 screens in the control room and alert officers. People in York have a right to expect that the CCTV cameras paid for with their taxes are being monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but this has just not been happening.”

He claimed the control room went completely unmanned on a number of occasions, often because staff left early with no warning, taking lieu time.

“I repeatedly turned up for work to start my night shift only to find the room in total darkness and the screens turned off,” he said. “I had to spend the first 20 minutes of my shift switching on the screens.”

He said he also found the police radio had been turned down so low that it was difficult to hear. “The radio is meant to be turned up so that staff can pick up when an incident happens, so they can turn on video feeds from that particular location.”

The council was asked whether the authority accepted or disputed Mr Garbutt’s claim that the room repeatedly went unmanned with the screens turned off, and also whether the commitment to round-the-clock monitoring was compromised, when only one employee was on duty, by the legal requirement for staff to take breaks.

A spokeswoman replied: “Staffing of the CCTV room is not an issue for the council or its partners the police, with whom we work closely to ensure that we make the most efficient and effective use of the system to fight crime and public disorder.”