A MOBILE phone with a built-in panic button came to the rescue of a female car park enforcement officer who was under attack.

The West Wiltshire District council employee was issuing a ticket in Church Street car park in Trowbridge when the car owner became abusive. Using the newly issued phone she alerted an operator to the situation and police were called in.

Council spokesman Louise Knox said: "If you have a mobile phone you actually have to make a call to raise the alarm and sometimes that is not possible or appropriate in terms of safety. With the new phones you just have to press a button and an operator can hear what is going on and call for help."

All the staff working in the council's commercial services department have been issued with the mobiles, which use satellite technology to track the carrier's location.

The handsets, provided by Orbis Monitoring Systems, also record any incident that takes place, providing evidence for any prosecution that follows.