A TYLDESLEY councillor has blamed cuts to policing numbers as the main reason why three men were able to spend more than an hour-and-a-half robbing a reported £80,000 from a cash machine without being disturbed.

The raiders used an angle grinder to break into the ATM outside the Aldi supermarket on Castle Street between 1.20am and 2.55am last Wednesday, January 11.

The machine burst into flames as the men made off with a bag full of money and Greater Manchester Police have released a CCTV video of the incident in a bid to catch the thieves.

Cllr Stephen Hellier, a former police officer in London, said: "That part of town is generally deserted after the pubs close and people have gone home.

"But the robbers must have made a hell of a racket using the grinder on the cash machine, and given the amount of time they spent there somebody must have heard something.

"I understand that since the austerity cuts were introduced Greater Manchester Police have lost up to 1,600 officers, and even now staff are not being replaced if they leave, including PCSOs (police community support officers).

"It is absolutely dreadful and the police are now depending on members of the public to be their eyes and ears when it comes to incidents such as this one.

"If somebody had bothered to contact an officer I have no doubt they would have been there in minutes and caught the robbers red handed."

Leigh Police Station will soon close to the public with GMP deciding to shut the public enquiry counter at the Chapel Street station after conducting a survey into the ways people contact emergency services.

The police stations in Atherton and Tyldesley closed in 2012 and 2006 respectively,

GMP says £180 million has been axed from its budget since 2010 and there are 2,000 fewer officers patrolling the streets.

Greater Manchester’s interim mayor and police and crime commissioner Tony Lloyd claims the force needs to save at least a further £22 million over the next 12 months and as a result has proposed to increase the policing element of the council tax by £5.

Cllr Hellier added: "These cuts impact across the board in that the lack of visible policing leads to members of the public often not wanting to get involved, and even if they do they can't always get through to somebody who will respond in a timely fashion because those on duty are too stretched."

To see the CCTV footage of the cash machine attack visit bit.ly/2iO9Hil.

Anyone with information about the incident should contact police on 101, quoting incident number 184 of January 11.