PENSIONER Derek Adams thinks it is wrong for Wiltshire police to charge people for making calls to its 101 non-emergency number.

Mr Adams, who is chairman of the College Estate residents association in Trowbridge said he was unaware of the charge until he rang the number last week to report teenagers taking drugs at a play area on the estate.

He said: "I have been involved in a number of neighbourhood organisations and had a lot of dealings with police and other services and I had never realised there was a 15p charge.

"I think it is wrong that there is a charge when the service you get is very poor. It took me between 15 and 20 minutes to get hold of anyone and then they suggested that I ring back when there when the teenagers are there.

Mr Adams, 66, a retired commercial vehicle body worker, made his realisation about the 101 charge just days after police and crime commissioner Angus Macpherson called on people in Wiltshire to back a £12 a year increase in the police part of council tax.

Mr Adams said: "Police have kept very quiet about the charge. Next we will hear crime figures have dropped as the public are reluctant now about reporting anything. Paying for the privilege of up to an hour's wait to be fobbed off at the end of the call is ridiculous."

A spokesman for Wiltshire police said: "Calls to 101, from both landlines and mobile networks. cost 15 pence per call, no matter what time of day you call, or how long you are on the phone.

"The 15p cost of the call goes to the telephony providers to cover the cost of carrying the calls. The police and government receive no money from calls to 101."