COUNCILLORS have criticised the amount of time it took police to attend an assault on a post master in a Darlington borough village.

Andy Hill, who runs the Londis shop and post office in Middleton St George, was attacked by a teenage boy before Christmas.

He called 999 at 7.45pm and police did not arrive until 9pm.

At a recent parish council meeting chairwoman Doris Jones told beat officer Boyd Rowe: "It was most, most disappointing, anything could have happened."

PC Rowe said the call would have been graded by staff at the control in Bishop Auckland and would not have been put at the top of the list.

"It won't have been classed as a dire, drop everything emergency," he said. "I was told it wasn't a priority."

He told members that the incident is still being treated as a crime.