EMBARRASSED Sussex Police issued an apology today after the launch of their new telephone number went off with a bigger bang than they expected.

Deafening blasts from the celebration fireworks at force HQ in Lewes even caught coppers on the hop.

Even Chief Constable Paul Whitehouse and Argus columnist Derek Jameson, helping with the launch, were seen literally jumping with surprise.

Argus photographer Liz Finlayson said: "I couldn't hear a thing for ages afterwards. The ground was quaking - it was like being in the middle of a battlefield."

The blasts were heard for miles around. One worried policeman's wife said: "I heard the explosions and looked out of my window and saw a plume of smoke - I thought a bomb had gone off."

Some people called the new non-emergency number 0845 60 70 999, which replaces 28 different switchboard numbers, to complain. A farmer called saying his animals had been frightened. Another said: "My whole house shook" and a woman called saying the bangs woke the baby.

Some children at nearby Pells Infants school cried. Head Mary Martin said: "Three officers came round later and apologised."

Junior school head Valerie Cobb said: "What we want to know is where the fireworks came from - they were so good we want them for our firework display in July."

Insp Graham Brown said: "Had we known they were going to be so loud we would have warned people." He added: "We are sorry if they caused distress. We wanted to launch to go off with a bang and it did, but we didn't expect to go quite as well as it did."

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