The time taken for Met Police to respond to "significant" incidents in Merton is among the worst in London.

Figures released by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan revealed that on average, officers are taking much longer to respond to emergency calls than expected.

999 calls are categorised as Immediate (I), Significant (S) and Extended (E).

They are all given different times in which they MUST respond.

Police should respond to an (I) call within 15 minutes - this means that there is a danger to life or an immediate threat.

Police should respond to an (S) call within 60 minutes - this means that there is genuine concern for somebody’s safety, a potential hate crime, an incident involving a road collision or an incident where a witness or likely evidence is likely to be lost.

And police should to respond to an (E) call within 24 hours or receiving the call.

While police have on average been on scene with time to spare for I calls in Merton (10 minutes and 50 seconds), S (1 hour and 43 minutes) and E (47 hours and 47 minutes) fall well behind, with S times ranking third worst in all of London.

Trinity ward councillor and Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for Wimbledon Paul Kohler said the times were "wholly unacceptable but said criticism should not fall on the Met.

"We should not blame our hardworking police officers, nor the borough commander Chief Superintendent Sally Benatar, but the politicians who set their budgets," he said.

London Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon added that the targets for response times "should be met in every part of London.

"Calling the police after a hate crime, or after a road collision and then having to wait so long for the police to arrive is not acceptable," she said.

"In many cases there is also a real risk that valuable evidence or witnesses are lost if the police fail to respond to incidents within an hour.

"Long response times create the risk of crimes not being properly investigated."

For S graded calls, only the boroughs of Newham and Barking and Dagenham has longer response times.

Chief Superintendent Simon Dobinson, South East BCU Commander said their primary focus is on responding to I grade calls within 15 minutes.

"Our latest statistics from February 2019 show the average response time to emergencies is 8 and a half minutes from the time the call is first answered," he said.

"There is ongoing work across the Met to maintain and improve the emergency response service to Londoners.

"The force is also continually developing ways in which the public can contact police in a non-emergency.

"All crime, ASB and road traffic incidents can now be reported online. The Met also has a huge presence on social media, which members of the public use to interact with officers and units on a daily basis.”