POLICE have abandoned plans to hire a private security firm to guard their own headquarters -- because they couldn't find anyone good enough to do the job.

In a move branded 'astonishing' by East Lancashire parliamentary candidate Gordon Prentice, the force had advertised in newspapers for an outside security firm to take on the job of guarding the HQ at Hutton, near Preston, at a cost of £450,000 over three years.

But police bosses have decided to keep the contract in-house -- after just two offers were received for the security tender and both failed to match expectations.

The £150,000-a-year contract was put out to tender in February and a shortlist of nine companies were invited to submit bids.

Only two completed bids were submitted, from British Legion Security PLC and Anchor Security Services.

However, Chief Constable Pauline Clare rejected both bids after it was revealed an in-house team could provide the security at a lower cost.

The round-the-clock security will now be provided by a team of seven civilian support staff, who will check people entering and leaving the headquarters.

The move to hire an outside firm was branded as 'astonishing' by Mr Gordon Prentice, who criticised the culture of contracting out services and said the police were the best people to guard something as sensitive as a police headquarters.

Ian Butterworth, Lancashire Constabulary's administration manager, said: "There is a lot of sensitive information and valuable equipment at headquarters and this must be protected if we are to succeed in reducing serious crime in the county.

"Obviously we can't use police officers for the job because they are needed elsewhere in the community, so we opt for the more appropriate and less costly option of having support staff security officers. "We put the services out to tender to ensure we obtain the best services at the best price and this time round no outside company could beat the service we currently provide internally."

The security team will guard the site, which includes several operational centres, such as the communications centre, forensics, Special Branch and the Major Crime Unit.

It also houses the residential training centre, the vehicle maintenance unit and a range of other administration facilities.

The in-house service will be monitored to make sure it continues to provide the best value service.

Police refused to reveal the cost of providing the in-house security compared to an outside firm, as the contract may be put out to tender again in the future.

Mr Prentice was unavailable to comment on the latest move.