LOCAL tradesmen have been left reeling following a decision by Lancashire Constabulary to use a national company to secure properties instead of local firms.

For 17 years the police have operated a rota system using local joiners, glaziers and locksmiths to secure properties following vandalism, break-ins or police raids.

But Lancashire Constabulary has now given the work to a national company, Staffordshire Holdings, on a one-year trial and local tradesmen are worried about how the new system will work.

"We've had a rota system for the last 17 years which was fair and shared the work around," said local joiner, Tony Woodhouse.

"But now a company called Staffordshire Holdings is in charge and they've asked for a £75 registration fee and £10 charge on every call-out before they'll put you on their books.

"All the tradesmen around here were unhappy about this but it seems they've given all this area's business to a Preston firm. These extra costs will have to be passed to the customer, local people often want local tradesmen to do the work and police officers will have to wait around a lot longer while someone comes all the way from Preston to secure a property."

He added: "I don't think this new system is fair, it will have a knock-on effect on local businesses and will leave bobbies hanging around when they could be doing something else."

Lancashire Constabulary's purchasing and control manager, Mr Peter Higson, said: "This is a one-year trial which will be reviewed. The benefits to us are that there's a single point of contact and in the past the constabulary were often left to pick up the bill if the property owners couldn't be found or refused to pay. Our administration costs have been reduced and Staffordshire Holdings also provide a lot of ancillary services. They are supposed to have a 30-minute response time and if it is taking longer than that I will look into it."

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