Police response times in Kingston to calls where there is an immediate risk to life were the worst in the capital in September, according to new data published by the Mayor.

The average response time to ‘I calls’, which are emergency calls which should have a maximum response time of 15 minutes, was 22 minutes and 15 seconds.

This puts Kingston just above Brent (19 minutes, 15 seconds), Enfield (18 minutes, 1 second), Bexley (17 minutes, 53 seconds).

Kingston consistently failed to meet its target response time to i calls in June, July, August and September, with 17 minutes and 1 second in June, 16 minutes and 38 seconds in July and 18 minutes and 31 seconds in August.

Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat Londonwide Assembly Member said: “These figures show the real state of policing in London and how the police are not able to keep up with demand.

“In the past the Met claimed that they was at least prioritising the most important crimes reported, yet even this is not the case.

“Last week claims were made at City Hall that the problems with 999 calls were due to exceptional factors, such as pressures from the World Cup and severe hot weather.”

She added: “However, these factors do not explain the failure to answer 999 calls throughout this time period.”

A Met Police spokesman said: "The total number of 999 calls to the Met has gradually increased over the past 18 months, this is also replicated nationally.

"There is no specific known cause for the volume increase, however, there is ongoing analysis into the reasons behind the gradual rise.

"Many factors can cause an increase in volume including nuisance callers, weather, increasing population, reduction of some out-of-hours services by other providers, or significant events."