RESIDENTS living near Middlewich's controversial new custody suite have demanded an urgent meeting with police after a spate of incidents.

They say people from all over Cheshire who have been arrested and detained overnight are simply being released and left to wander around residential streets.

A group living on the Kinderton Manor estate across the A54 close to the Pochin Way centre are furious that residents are being approached by people with little or no idea how to get home, and claim some have been intimidated.

The residents have called in town mayor Chalky White, also a resident of the estate, who has contacted the police on behalf of the 10-strong group.

Cllr White said: 'It seems that there has been a real lack of thought regarding how people should be released from the centre and, just weeks after the centre opened, some young families have already had worrying experiences.'

The first incident took place last week when a young mother was stopped near her house.

Cllr White said: 'She and her two young children were walking near their home when a man approached them and asked the way to Congleton. She pointed and he asked where he could get a bus, but she doesn't use public transport and when she told him he started swearing and asked how he was supposed to get the money to take the bus anyway.

'Understandably, she and her children were distressed by this - and it shouldn't be happening.'

Before the suite opened last month, police calmed fears over an influx of detained people from four surrounding boroughs by saying that Global Solutions Limited - the private former subsidiary of Group 4 Security which runs the facility - would transport people from the centre back to their home town on their release.

Cllr White said: 'Whether it's the police not giving sufficient travel information or the private company keeping its costs down, these people shouldn't just be turned out onto the streets.

'It's not that these people are even necessarily being deliberately intimidating, but the closest bus stop is a 20-30 minute walk from the suite and the closest train station is four miles away in Holmes Chapel, so there are a lot of disorientated people - some of whom are criminals - walking around a residential area. We need to meet with police to discuss this issue as soon as possible.'

A Cheshire police spokeswoman said the force hadn't received complaints from individual residents about the suite. She added: 'We perform a risk-assessment when releasing prisoners which includes asking them how they will get back, and we can arrange transport. But this can mean a wait of up to two hours - once we have released someone we can't force them to stay at the facility for that long.'