A GOOD Samaritan who found a wallet and decided to hand it over at Ellesmere Port police station found she couldn't get in because the building was closed.

The woman, who does not want to be named, arrived outside the station at 2pm on Good Friday, after a day out in Chester.

She found the wallet on the bus and decided to go to the station and hand it in.

The woman, who lives in the town, said: 'The sign on the door states the station is open from 10am until 6pm, so I decided to use the intercom next to the door.

'A woman answered, asked me very abruptly where I was speaking from and said that someone would be down to see us.

'But five minutes later with nothing happening I pressed the buzzer again and a very arrogant woman answered and said someone would be coming down to see me.

'By this time, 15 minutes had passed, it was raining and my daughter and niece were both embarrassed at the way I was being spoken to.' She added: 'I'd had enough by this time so we went to the Port Arcades and found a security guard who was extremely helpful.

'He looked inside the wallet and found a phone number of the person it belonged to. I've since received a call from the owner thanking me.

'I'd like to know whether we have a police station or not. I dread to think what would have happened if it was something serious.'

A Cheshire police spokesman said: 'The intercom outside Ellesmere Port police station is not actually connected to the station but to the call management centre at police HQ in Winsford, so it's very unlikely that anyone inside the station knows when there's someone outside.

'The call management supervisor has tried to locate this lady's message, but unless she can be more specific about the time, it is going to be almost impossible to locate it. There were about 200 calls around that time.'

Inspector Keith Sutton at Ellesmere Port police station added: 'Ellesmere Port, like many other stations in the country, has a front desk which is not staffed 24 hours a day.

'There is a facility for anyone to contact call management who advise them what to do next.'

Police admit there is no sign outside the station telling people what to do and have promised to review arrangements.