A councillor described how he waited for 15 minutes for the police to answer the phone – without success.

Liberal Democrat councillor John Hale rang the non-emergency ‘101’ service to hand over information relating to criminal behaviour.

But when he was still waiting for an answer 15 minutes later he hung up and tried unsuccessfully to report it online instead.

When he then rang the 101 service on a second occasion to report a public safety issue he says the call was answered – but only after he’d waited another 15 minutes.

Cllr Hale, who represents the Colney Heath and Marshalswick division of St Albans, raised his concerns about the 101 service at a meeting of the community safety and waste management cabinet panel on November 9.

He said that when he did get through to a 101 call handler, he was kept on the phone too long, when he just wanted to hand over the information.

And he said the police website was difficult to use, particularly if the information you wanted to report didn’t match the sequence of questions.

At the meeting Chris Brace, chief executive of the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, said police in the county received around a thousand 101 calls a day.

He said the average time taken to answer a 101 call was one minute and 11 seconds. That compares to an average of eight seconds to answer a 999 call.

He said there had been an influx of new staff and new recruits often meant calls could take longer until they became more skilled.

The 101 service  can be used to report crime or other concerns to the police that do not require an emergency response.

It can be used to report a theft, or damage or suspecting crime in a particular area.

Callers should use the 999 number whenever it’s an emergency, when a crime is in progress, when a suspect is nearby, when there is danger to life or when violence is being threatened.