Post Office owner 'waited 3 hours for police' after raid

A member of staff arrived to take delivery of newspapers at 4.30am and found the glass front door had been smashed in.

Owner Ken Hesmer and wife Geraldine phoned the police but were left fuming when no officers arrived for three hours despite three phone calls.

In the meantime they were forced to sell newspapers from the bundle outside the shop rather than disturb the crime scene.

It's the second time the shop's door has been smashed in three weeks but nothing was stolen the first time.

Mr Hesmer said: "They stole hundreds of pounds worth of cigarettes, a bottle of brandy and a load of sweets. We found chocolate bars strewn around the alleyways in the area.

"They must have crawled under our infra-red alarm sensors."

Mr Hesmer says he's furious at the police response to the raid.

He added: "We had to make three calls and still nobody arrived for three hours. I lost my temper when they finally did arrive. I've got a business to run but I thought I'd better not enter the shop because there would be things like fingerprints and other evidence inside.

"I wish I hadn't bothered. All they did was ask my wife to fill in a form and then they were on their way. It was very disappointing."

Mr Hesmer added: "Considering the increase in council tax I feel sick at the poor service. I thought we were supposed to have more police in Bexhill, these days."

Sergeant Trish Reeve-Fowkes, of Bexhill Police, could not comment yesterday morning until she had investigated the matter further.