EMERGENCY calls in one North-East police area are being handled by a neighbouring force due to technical difficulties experienced by the service.

Difficulties with the call-handling system for 999 alerts and other more routine calls to the Northumbria force emerged on Saturday afternoon.

The force initially asked the public to ring later if calls were non-urgent or to access a 101 form via the Northumbria Police website.

But emergency calls in the Northumbria area were subsequently transferred to Durham Police, which warned callers that, at times, due to “substantial demand”, it may result in delays in response.

Work was said to be ongoing to try to resolve the technical problems affecting the system.