A new non-emergency number to contact police is being launched in the next few weeks.

Chief constable Ian Arundale told Cardigan town councillors last week that the 101 number was being launched in April.

Emergency calls would continue to use 999.

But the much maligned "call centre" 0845 number would also remain.

Cllr Wynne Evans, a retired police inspector, said he hated using the 0845 number.

"You have to answer all these questions just to get through to the police station – it drives me mad," he said.

But Mr Arundale said an extra 12 posts were being created at the Carmarthen call centre to cope with calls.

"I inherited a system which didn’t have enough people to make it work," he said.

He added that there was scope to link up with local authorities to enable the 101 number to be used to report environmental concerns such as abandoned cars.