There is understandable disquiet about the reduction in public access to police stations across Oxfordshire which has been announced by Thames Valley Police.

The force has disclosed proposals to save £600,000 by heavily reducing the hours that its stations would be open in the county’s major towns, with several of them being shut on Mondays.

Some will only be open to the public for four hours a day, while four will only operate for three days a week.

St Aldates station, in Oxford, will remain the one station open 24 hours a day, but the hours the front reception is open at the city’s other base, in Oxford Road, Cowley, are being reduced by almost 50 per cent.

The concern is that as people are unlikely to know when their local station is open, they will simply not bother to pop in. In time, the lack of use of stations could be used as an excuse to close them completely.