POLICE watchdogs have delayed a bid to spend £300,000 on re-opening cells at a North Yorkshire town's police station.

Members of the county's police authority, which is responsible for force spending, have asked for more information before agreeing to invest the cash in Selby Police Station.

Assistant Chief Constable Peter Bagshaw argued that the part of a £4.5 million budget surplus could be spent on the cells as a temporary solution to over pressures on cell availability.

He was backed by authority member and York councillor Ruth Potter, who said opening them up would relieve pressure on officers in York, who spend a lot of time transporting prisoners.

Police officers have complained that the situation leaves them as "taxi drivers", who spend more time moving around arrestees than policing the streets.

On busy shifts, such as Friday and Saturday evenings, patrols sometimes have to take prisoners as far as Northallerton to find vacant cells.

Five years ago Selby police station's cells were downgraded due to cutbacks, and prisoners could only spend six hours there.

Since then they have been opened occasionally for special operations and busy periods, but all longer-term prisoners must be brought to York Police Station, which has 24 cells.

In a police report, Mr Bagshaw said "repeated and ongoing pressures" remained on the limited custody facilities in the county, especially at times of peak demand, such as weekend evenings.

Coun Potter said: "At the moment it means we have police officers being taken off the streets of York to transport people around to find somewhere to lock them up.

"In my view this would be a worthwhile investment. There is an under spend and it seemed to me to be a good way to spend the money before something permanent is put in place. The police have got someone looking at increasing the capacity of the cells. The Chief Constable, Della Cannings, also wanted to re-open Selby."

In April, the Evening Press revealed how prisoners at York, Harrogate and Northallerton will get warmer cells thanks to £400,000 which will be invested in better heating and ventilation.

Updated: 12:13 Thursday, July 07, 2005