LANCASHIRE police have 'found' an extra 6,000 hours after ignoring false alarms.

A policy introduced last year means police do not go out to buildings where the burglar alarm is forever going off for the wrong reasons.

Figures revealed 98 per cent of all alarm calls in 1996 were false. Premises are taken off the 'no-go' list after three months of peace. Force alarm manager Gill Shacklady said: "If there is also suspicious activity when an alarm goes off, the police do attend. We're not asking people to take the law into their own hands. It's to encourage security firms to make alarms more efficient." Contact the alarm management team on (01772) 618125 for advice.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.