A Wimbledon barber is furious after being told it would be "totally inappropriate" for police to pay for the damage to his shop window - that they caused during an arrest.

Evan Babaker walked into his Broadway shop on the morning of September 11 to find a big crack in the front window and note left by police on the floor.

After calling the Met to find out what happened - which the note told him to do - he was redirected to its insurance company. A few emails and a four-day wait later he was informed by the police that Mr Babaker's crack window "was not their problem" and that they were "only doing their job."

Wimbledon Times:

The note left by police

"But by the police doing their job I have become the victim in all this and the damages have to be sorted out by my self," the barber said.

"What I find interesting is what if I did not have insurance. What if the whole window was smashed, would the police have stayed outside my shop from 3am to 9 in the morning until I got in or would they just have left a note again to tell me the shop window is fully smashed."

In one of the emails sent to the "innocent victim" - as the Met's claims handlers described him as - the company it said while they sympathised with the situation, they would be unable to assist.

"As we understand it, some unavoidable damage occurred to the window of your property during the arrests of a non-compliant suspect by police," the message read.

"It would therefore be totally inappropriate for this office to reimburse you for the costs incurred when police were merely carrying out the role the public rightly expects of them."

Wimbledon Times:

A spokeswoman for the Met said officers were called just before 3am on September 11 to reports of an altercation on Wimbledon Broadway.

"Officers attended and arrested two men on suspicion of affray," she said.

"Both were taken into custody and later released under investigation.

"During the arrest, a glass window of a nearby commercial property was smashed.

"Details on who to contact were left for the owner as is standard."