I WRITE regarding C Tarrant’s letter in Friday’s Oxford Mail, about the person calling at Thames Valley Police HQ to report a burglary and being turned away.

Most people would complain to a head office if something is not right or if they have received bad service.

The police are an emergency service, and most people would either telephone or call at their nearest police station to report a crime.

If there was a police station open in Kidlington, then the man could have been referred there. But he was a victim of crime and, like most people, went to what he thought was his nearest police station.

How was he to know that the words on the board outside Thames Valley Police HQ did not mean it was a police station – but a place of desk jockeys and administrators?

Surely the correct and efficient way to deal with someone having made such an honest mistake was to invite him in, dial the crime desk, and let him make his report there and then, not send him away.

It was a police matter and should have been dealt with in a more customer friendly manner – and it would have avoided a lot of bad publicity.

CHRIS PAYNE Victoria Court Bicester