Edinburgh 24/7 city-centre police station closed to the public 40 times in six weeks

Edinburgh's Gayfield Square police station, near the top of Leith Walk, is advertised as being open 24/7. But recently Police Scotland has posted frequently on social media to warn the public that its front counter will be closed at certain periods - often at nights and weekends.

And Lothian Conservative MSP MIles Briggs says he is concerned about the reduction in hours, especially when there has been an increase in crime.

Gayfield Square police station has been closed to the public 40 times in the last six weeks | Google

He noted that the Police Scotland website claimed: “Public counters at St. Leonard's and Gayfield Square will always be open to ensure that anyone who wishes to can attend in person at a police station to access a wide variety of services 24 hours a day, all year round.”

But he said the police had made 10 announcements on X, listing more than 40 closures of the public counter at Gayfield Square since March 30.

The social media posts give the days and hours when the counter will be closed. And they add: "St Leonard’s will remain open for assistance. We apologise any inconvenience."

Mr Briggs said: “This comes as Edinburgh experiences one of the lowest police-to-population ratios of any local authority and non-sexual crimes of violence are up 10 per cent, sexual crimes 11 per cent, and domestic abuse 50 per cent since 2020.

“With rising violence and theft in our communities, people are beginning to feel unsafe in Edinburgh. We cannot afford to have key police stations closed, especially at nights and weekends when people are most vulnerable. Especially those fleeing domestic abuse need to have confidence that the nearest police station will be open and ready to help at all times.

“It is also true that Edinburgh’s nighttime economy will suffer if people feel less safe in affected areas, and this will have knock on effects for the local economy generally.”

Mr Briggs said he would be raising his concerns about Gayfield Square with both Police Scotland and the Scottish Government.

“I’m very concerned that a critical 24/7 station in the city centre is facing these staffing issues. This is another example of the effects that ongoing recruitment problems are having on the everyday activities of our police force.”

In 2014, Police Scotland announced plans to close public counters in a swathe of police stations across Edinburgh and the Lothians. The Evening News campaigned to save the counters - five were reprieved while seven closed and others had their opening hours cut.

The News then revealed that many stations were not open at their advertised times due to staffing shortages. And in 2018, the police stopped advertising opening hours and said stations were operating a "changeable opening hours system", which reflected the staffing situation.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: ““The front counter at Gayfield police station has been closed on several occasions because of staff absence. We took the decision to close the front counter during these times to prioritise police officers being available to the frontline to continue to respond to local incidents and keep people safe.

“If Gayfield police station is closed to the public, the nearest front counter is at St Leonard’s police station. For non-emergencies and general enquiries, members of the public can call 101, and 999 in the event of an emergency.

“If you are deaf, deafened, hard of hearing or cannot communicate via speech you can utilise the text relay service on 18001101. For emergencies British Sign Language (BSL) users can contact us by using 999 BSL. For non-emergencies BSL users can use Contact Scotland BSL.”