WITNESSES and victims of crime in York are being left out in the cold as emergency police operators struggle to answer 999 calls.

York residents have slammed North Yorkshire Police emergency operators, claiming they are failing to provide an adequate service.

Two people who dialled 999 told the Evening Press they failed to receive an answer after asking for police help, and say their confidence in the police force has been affected.

Fire and ambulance 999 calls are not affected by the same problems.

Police admitted today that some 999 callers were having to queue at peak times, but stressed that calls would get answered eventually.

They revealed they were recruiting more staff and were looking at new technology to help them handle the growing number of emergency and non-urgent calls.

Walmgate caf owner Val Ross, 52, dialled 999 when two youths threatened to attack one of her staff after verbally abusing customers.

She said she spent several minutes on the line after being put through by the operator to the police, but no one answered, so she called York Police station about the disturbance, only for an officer to tell her to dial 999 "if things get out of hand."

She said: "I could not believe it when the phone kept ringing and ringing - I told the youths I had called the police, but they said they would probably arrive next week."

Phillip Fowler, 72, of Woodthorpe, called the police when he saw a group of youths kicking a garage door down in his street, days after two mopeds were stolen in similar circumstances.

He said: "Nobody picked up the phone. It rang 15 or 20 times and I got no response at all. When I called again the next morning an abrupt man answered and when I told him what had happened in the night he asked me if it was an emergency before putting the phone down."

Mr Fowler has now complaied to North Yorkshire Chief Constable David Kenworthy.

Inspector John Fowler, of North Yorkshire Police, admitted that the force was having some "problems" with 999 calls and callers had been experiencing delays at the two new call handling centres.

He said: "There will be times at peak periods when 999 calls queue, but they will get answered eventually. It may seem like a lifetime, and I can fully sympathise that it feels like an awful long time for a person in an emergency situation."

He said emergency calls were received at the York or Newby Wiske police emergency call centres by experienced and trained handlers and that staff were working hard to improve the service.

The police aim to answer all emergency calls within five seconds, but the average wait in June was 17 seconds, down from 19 seconds in May.

North Yorkshire Police received 8,060 emergency calls in June compared to 7,383 in May and 6,889 in April. Numbers have risen as the seven control centres across the county have been incorporated into the two new bases.

Updated: 11:42 Wednesday, July 31, 2002