VOLUNTEERS manned Calne's CCTV monitoring station on Friday in the first of a series of trials, which could lead to 24-hour manned surveillance of the town centre.

The town's CCTV system consists of seven cameras positioned around the town recording around the clock. When an incident occurs police can view the tapes and use them as evidence.

But the town council hopes by manning its CCTV monitoring station at its offices in Bank House it can become more proactive in its fight against crime and alert the police to incidents as they occur.

Calne Town Council's community development officer Mark Wilkins hailed the trial a success and is now looking to recruit more volunteers to man the station for longer periods.

"It went very smoothly. All the equipment worked fine, it just needed a little fine tuning, and the communications with police HQ and local police worker really well," he said.

"There were a couple of incidents that we filmed in the town centre and police were directly involved."