A police officer has branded the system for reporting crime as "absolutely ridiculous" and "appalling."

PC Clare Lyness, whose patch covers Denholme and Cullingworth, said people would save time calling her on her mobile phone rather than trying the main 0845 6060606 number for non-emergency matters.

PC Lyness, pictured, was speaking at a meeting of Denholme Neighbourhood Forum.

She said: "I can only say that people would have more success ringing us directly. I have tried to ring the police myself and the system we have got is appalling. It's absolutely ridiculous.

"That's why we have tried to bring it back to a local level to give us more of a chance.

"This is a big gripe of ours that people are struggling to get hold of the police."

PC Lyness was responding to a woman's complaints that when she phoned 999 to report youths barricading the A629 road, she was passed on to a young woman, who told her "I'll need time to find a map" and was kept waiting.

Police Community Support Office Paul Allwood said: "The woman probably didn't even know where Denholme was."

He added: "Our mobile telephone numbers are on the wall of the outside (the Mechanics Institute). If one of us is on duty there's a much better chance of getting something done."

Residents also criticised the lack of feedback from police investigating crime.

Bryan Church, a member of Denholme Environment Action Group, said that after part of its work was destroyed - a community garden area - following a police chase in August, the group heard nothing for a month.

PC Lyness said that crime in Denholme had fallen over the past year.

Supt Gary Baker, of Keighley police, said: "The role of the local Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT) officers is to work with communities and partner agencies to address any issues or concerns in an area, such as anti-social behaviour. To achieve this we do actively encourage people to discuss local issues directly with members of their NPT.

"NPT officers can be contacted directly by phone or e-mail. Naturally those officers can only be contacted directly while they are on duty. They may be away from the division for various reasons, on holiday for example, so people should not rely on being able to get in touch with them in person immediately.

"We would always recommend that people should use either the 999 number - but only for emergencies where there is a danger to life or a crime is in progress - or use our 0845 6060606 telephone contact number to report non-emergency incidents where police attendance is required, or to report a crime or other incident.

"Keighley division has experienced a record number of calls into their station with 20,000 calls being received by them in September alone. Despite these record rates, on average, 90 per cent of calls to the 0845 number are answered in 10 to 15 seconds. Details are taken and passed to officers for appropriate action. As the figures show, the 0845 number is a very reliable way of contacting Keighley police about non-emergency matters.