Policeman tells shopkeeper chasing thieves: 'Call the police'

A shopkeeper said he was left bemused after stopping a PC in the street to ask for help catching two teenage thieves, only to be told: "Ring the police". Graham Taylor, 50, chased the two offenders from his newsagents on Westbourne Avenue, in Hessle, after they stole a bottle of whiskey and a bottle of Baileys. He followed on foot before running back, locking up his store and jumping in his car as the youths made off into a nearby cemetery.

As he circled the perimeter of the graveyard, Mr Taylor spotted an officer in a marked patrol car and asked for his assistance. "I couldn't believe what he said when I asked for help," Mr Taylor said.



"First he asked if I had reported it to the police, then asked if I had rang the police. He was the police, was I not reporting it there and then? Why do I need to ring the police to tell them when I told a police officer." Mr Taylor said he then called 999 and was assured patrols had been sent out. However, it later transpired the officers in question, who were working from Peeler House police station, missed the radio call as they were celebrating a colleague's retirement inside the station.

Mr Taylor claims he went to the station and was met with a car adorned with pink balloons and shouts and cheers coming from within the building. The shopkeeper has since made an official complaint and said he has been told by an inspector that "mistakes have been made". "The whole thing just became more and more farcical as we went on, it was like a scene from Carry on Constable," said Mr Taylor.