POLICE have urged the public to contact them online over the Bank Holiday weekend to avoid long waits on the phone.

They have stressed that the public should continue to call 999 in an emergency but that people can Do It Online instead of calling the non-emergency 101number.

Jane Jennings, Head of Contact Management for Dorset Police, said: "We want people to have a good bank holiday and half-term in and around the area, and we hope they don’t need to contact us, but if they do, and it’s not an emergency we would ask them to consider using the online methods available.

"We have many online ways to contact us which are easy to use and available 24/7, meaning people can contact us at their convenience and without needing to wait on the telephone to speak to someone.

"We realise that not everyone has access to the internet and some people would prefer to speak to a person but by encouraging people to use our online methods means we can manage our demand more efficiently and prevent long waiting times for people choosing to call us."

To contact police go to dorset.police.uk