OPENING hours at Chard Police Station’s enquiry office have changed.

The desk will now operate from 10am-6pm Monday to Friday, except when it closes for lunch from 1.30-2.15pm.

It will also be closed at the weekend and on Bank Holidays.

Previously, the office was open noon-8pm Monday and Tuesday, and 8.30am-4.30pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

It also used to close every fourth Wednesday of the month and open every fourth Saturday of the month.

Anyone who attends Chard Police Station outside those hours will not be able to have a face-toface meeting but can contact the force’s communication centre via the hatch phone, while nonurgent calls can be made on 101 or the emergency number 999.

Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Nikki Watson said: “Our enquiry offices are a vital channel for members of the public to interact with us and we want to make sure we are providing the best service to meet the demand we face.

“We have spoken to partners, staff and members of the public and we were consistently told our opening hours can be confusing and it would be simpler if we removed alternating patterns and instead open the same hours every week.

“We will be making changes to our police stations in the coming months and years, so there will be further changes, but it was important for us to provide a simpler service for our communities as soon as possible.”

Police announced in April that stations in Chard, Ilminster and Crewkerne are to close and move elsewhere over the next four years.

Ilminster police station, off The Butts, will close in autumn next year, Chard police station will close and move to a smaller base in 2016/17 and Crewkerne police station, off South Street, will close in 2017/18.

Police are expected to either move into buildings with other emergency services or local authorities but it was stressed they will still have a base in their respective towns