Luke Taylor MP slams “disgraceful” Mayor for cutting Sutton Police Station opening hours

Luke Taylor MP has slammed the decision to reduce the opening hours of the police front counter at Sutton Police Station - ending the existing twenty-four hour service.

It comes as the Metropolitan Police confirmed that of London’s thirty-seven public-facing police front counters, only two will remain open twenty-four hours a day, with twenty-five seeing their opening hours cut, and ten closing altogether.

Proposals unveiled over the summer originally spared Sutton’s front counter from reduced hours or closure, but the revised proposals announced today now include Sutton on the list of stations affected.

The front counter at Sutton Police Station is now only set to operate between 10am-10pm on weekdays and 9am-7pm on weekends.

Luke Taylor, MP for Sutton and Cheam and the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for London, said:

“This is unacceptable - it will leave people in Sutton and across London less safe. This disgraceful Mayor has broken his promise to keep a twenty-four hour front counter in every borough.

“His shocking carelessness and inability to stand up to his own party has got us here. If he had any integrity he would row this back immediately.

“Police front counters are still, for many people, the first port of call to report a crime that has just happened to them in public. God forbid anyone should experience a crime after ten o’clock at night.

“To have Sutton now included on this list of affected stations after it was originally spared a reduction is particularly cruel - and a reminder that the Mayor and Government are not giving the Met Police the funding they need to do their jobs - keeping us all safe.

“For Sutton High Street, which has already seen its high-street police team reduced massively in recent months, this is particularly worrying.

“And for women, who already have been let down by the Met Police and for whom recent revelations have done nothing to instill confidence, taking away one of the simplest ways for them to report assault, harassment or domestic violence, this is an unacceptable kick in the teeth”.