I was woken up by the first telephone call, I answered the telephone by my bed immediately and telephoned the police station. In conversation with the duty sergeant, it transpired that he had telephoned the AA exactly one hour before their telephone call to me.

There was no excuse that they had to telephone around because I was the panel solicitor on duty.

The sergeant's comment was, is it going to take the AA the same time to deal with the police calls as it does for them to deal with your car breaking down. What is the price of competitive tendering.

Do we have to sacrifice a good service every four years for the price of a few pounds?