POLICE chiefs today apologised to a pensioner after failing to respond to her 999 call.

The woman, who lives in a Tadcaster council flat, was said to be too frightened to go out following her ordeal.

The 63-year-old woman was terrified when she heard someone hammering on her front door just after 8pm.

She saw a gang of youths, including a girl, banging loudly on her door and shouting, and immediately dialled 999.

But more than two hours later, as the distressed pensioner was being comforted by a neighbour, there had still been no response to her emergency call.

A police officer finally arrived at her home the following afternoon and apologised.

The woman's daughter - who said neither she nor her mother wished to be identified because of fear of reprisals - has made an official complaint to North Yorkshire Police Force.

She said: "My mother is a nervous wreck, can't sleep properly and is sitting at home too frightened to go out.

"She was on her own at the time and I'm furious that her 999 call went unanswered - it's diabolical when you think what could have happened.

"The youths shouted to my mother they were running away because they had been in a fight, and the girl asked if she could use the toilet.

"Fortunately my mum had the good sense not to open the door."

She said when the police failed to respond, her mother phoned a neighbour, whose husband found the gang hiding in a "cubby hole" on the veranda outside her flat.

She added: "I've gone public with this because I don't want anyone else to go through the ordeal my mother went through."

North Yorkshire police spokesman Ron Johnson said: "We are deeply concerned about the situation in which this lady found herself.

"It appears to be a genuine mistake and as soon as we have identified what went wrong, we will be contacting the complainant.

"There is no fault attached to Tadcaster police who knew nothing of the incident.

"Obviously we would have liked to have responded and we've apologised to the lady and her family."

Sergeant Ian Butler, of Tadcaster police, said the youths involved had been seen by officers and warned about their future conduct.

Updated: 15:31 Tuesday, February 05, 2002