Kingston could lose all but one of its front counters at police stations in the borough as the Metropolitan Police look to axe frontline services to save money.

The authority is consulting members of the public on plans to cut some of its 138 counters across London.

It is proposing a minimum of one counter per borough which will be open 24 hours a day throughout the week and is part of a larger consultation into how people contact the police.

Critics fear it could mean people are less likely to report crime and said the borough needs at least two front counter services.

Former chairman of Safer Neighbourhood Panel for Alexandra Ward Adam Lotun said: “In this borough we will have to get all the way to Kingston to report a crime, people will start thinking is this worthwhile?

“There is a lot of dismay about it. It’s just another reason to lose confidence in the police, they are not supporting the community. In this day and age what do you do, there is a lot of fear out there.

“It just means they are removing people’s power and giving power to criminals.”

According to the authority, last year only 14 per cent of crimes were reported through front counters and 66 per cent were reported over the phone.

Met Commander Tony Eastaugh said: “Some of our front counters hark back to a different era.

“We now have 630 Safer Neighbourhood Teams, we have surgeries, we have different mechanisms for engagement of police at a local level.”

Kingston has one 24-hour desk at the main police station on the High Street.

There are also front desk services operating with reduced hours in Surbiton and New Malden.

The Met is running an online survey into how the public access police services which finishes on June 10. However, no decisions will be taken until the consultation has finished this summer.

A Met Police spokeswoman said: "No decisions have been taken on closing any individual front counter across the Metropolitan Police Service, and the outcome of the public access review will be a key consideration in any decision making to ensure that we continue to meet the needs of Londoners.”

To take part in the survey visit met.police.uk/contacts/public_access_survey.htm.