A SHARED police and council services counter has proved successful in its first year, particularly for one resident who forgot to take their money from a cash point.

Police counter services were taken over by West Oxfordshire District Council in January last year after Thames Valley Police closed the police station in Chipping Norton.

The Guildhall venue is proving a more convenient town centre location than the former police station and its opening hours are longer, as they are now in line with those of the District Council.

The additional police front counter services provided by the district council includes referring incidents, providing crime reduction and general advice and reporting lost and found property.

"One of our big successes has been dealing with lost property. Thanks to the honesty of local residents we’ve reunited mobile phones, purses, keys and other items with their owners. Recently £200 was handed in to us from Sainsbury’s cash point, and with a little bit of detective work, we tracked down the rightful owner who was very grateful," said customers services officer Ian Fawcett.

“We’ve had some lovely comments over the last year and I think people appreciate how easy it is for them now to contact the police through us.

“We’ve been trained to help with police administrative tasks and provide information and in the last year have dealt with nearly 400 cases," he said.

Councillor Mark Booty, Cabinet Member at West Oxfordshire District Council responsible for Community Safety said: "Police front counter services are greatly valued by local residents and I am pleased that we have been able to help retain these for Chipping Norton. The move has brought added bonuses for residents too as the service now has longer opening hours and is in a town centre location which has easy ground floor access.”