Calls to West Mercia Police hit by problem
Emergency calls to police in Shropshire had to be diverted for more than an hour after the force telephone system crashed.
West Mercia Police had to divert its emergency calls to neighbouring forces after the lines went down on Monday.
The force had issues that affected both the 999 emergency line and the 101 non-emergency line during the afternoon.
Emily Dixon, force spokeswoman, said the problem lasted for about 80 minutes.
She said: "During this time, as per our contingency plans, 999 calls were diverted to neighbouring forces ensuring no emergency calls were left unanswered.
"The public was also able to make use of our email and web-chat facilities for non-emergency calls."
She said the force would be working with its service providers to investigate the circumstances.
