POLICE today defended themselves against criticism from Burnley traders who lost thousands of pounds when police took more than four hours to deal with a false alarm at a town centre bank.

A full morning's trade was lost after the false alarm at the HSBC bank on the corner of Manchester Road and Red Lion Street.

A large area between St James Street and Hargreaves Street was out of bounds to pedestrians and traffic from shortly after 8am yesterday until police finally entered the bank at 12.30pm and the problem was found to be a fault in the alarm system.

Acting Chief Inspector Simon Leach said the safety of police and the public had been his main concern and police were today visiting affected shopkeepers to thank them for their assistance.

He denied rumours that a delay was caused through waiting for an armed response unit to attend.

Mr Leach said the alarm indicator meant there could have been intruders on the premises.

"We didn't know what we were dealing with," he said adding that there had been a delay in getting information from the alarm company.

"It was unfortunate and I will be taking it up with them later. I am concerned that I had to keep the centre closed for as long as I had to do," he said. Phil Kelly, a partner in Petty Chartered Surveyors said: "I arrived before it all started and parked my car. I ended up having to cancel all my interviews because I couldn't get to my car again. I normally would have been out all morning. We normally would have expected a steady stream of people coming in."

Tom Jones, manager of Mark One clothing shop, said: "I had just got in before it was cordoned off and I wasn't allowed back out again. We have lost half a day's trade which would have been quite a lot of money as Friday is always a busy day.

"We spent practically three hours doing nothing and the police were just wandering around.

"I bet it cost a fortune."

Sean Riddell, manager of the Big Window pub, said: "The staff could get in through the back door but they were just sitting around twiddling their thumbs. There wasn't much we could do -- I couldn't send them home because I didn't know how long it would go on for and no-one was telling us anything. Friday is our busiest lunch time and we will have lost at least £200."

Cathy Marriott, a stand-in manager at Ladbrokes bookmakers, said: "I couldn't get in to the building until about quarter to one and we are supposed to open at 10am. The morning is one of the busiest parts of the day for us especially on Fridays so will have affected us quite badly."