POLICE say that a new method of recording crime in Richmondshire is responsible for an apparent rise in incidents.

A 46 per cent increase in recorded crime in the area was due to new Home Office counting rules, Sergeant Mick Rookes told a Richmondshire North parish forum. He said: "Before, if a caravan business was broken into and miscreants damaged or stole from 20 caravans on the same night, that was recorded as one crime. It is now counted as 20 crimes and, instantly, overnight, the crime figures go through the roof."

This was the first year under the new counting system and it would take until next year to begin comparing figures properly, he said.

Sgt Rookes told the meeting that teething troubles continued at the two call centres which replaced control rooms at Richmond, Northallerton, Skipton, Harrogate, York, Scarborough and Filey.

He said that more staff were being recruited for the new centres at Northallerton and York to tackle the particularly busy times in the early evening, when members of the public said they were having problems getting through.

Richmondshire district councillor Helen Grant said she had once waited 33 minutes for a call to be answered.

Sgt Rookes urged people to report crimes as soon as they were witnessed. Officers recently caught a car thief following a 2am call from a resident of Middleton Tyas and, as a result, also cleared up seven burglaries, returning the stolen items to their owners.

"It is no good calling the police at 10 o'clock the following morning after you've seen someone suspicious in the middle of the night," Sgt Rookes said.