CALNE'S trial manned CCTV station claimed its first success when it alerted police to a brawl in the High Street on July 18.

Volunteers at the CCTV station, which is undergoing a series of manned trials, alerted police to the incident at 11pm. They responded within minutes, and broke up the scuffle.

One 34-year-old man was arrested when he threatened the two officers after the fracas.

He later kicked in the window of the squad car transporting him to the custody unit at Melksham and badly damaged the inside of the door.

Sergeant Nic Shorten, of Calne police, said: "When we are on patrol we can only see what is directly around us, but these cameras can cover a much wider area and pick up incidents as they occur."

Calne Town Council's community development officer Mark Wilkins said the police had responded within minutes. But the following night, when the monitoring station was unmanned, the tape of the town centre failed to record. But Mr Wilkins said this was a manual error and would not re-occur.