PEOPLE calling Avon and Somerset Police on 999 yesterday afternoon, Saturday, July 25, may have experienced "slight delays", according to a force spokesman.

The constabulary' phone system suffered technical problems for a period.

Calls to the 101 number were hit by longer delays.

Incoming calls were diverted to neighbouring forces while engineers sorted the problem.

A force spokesman has apologised, saying it is known that a number of callers hung up after failing to get through, while others reported incidents via the force website.

The phone system was back up and running normally within a couple of hours.