A passenger on the Gravesend to Tilbury ferry saw the gun

A passenger on the Gravesend to Tilbury ferry told staff on the boat they had seen a man sitting on the pier with a handgun.

The gun turned out to be a replica - but the man who dialled 999 and then waited has said nobody had any way of knowing that.

But police have insisted they did everything by the book as descriptions of the man's behaviour did not suggest he was about to fire the gun.

'A little bit suspect'

The alarm was raised on Saturday evening after a passenger getting on to the ferry at Gravesend Pier told the captain John Potter about the man with the gun.

We had to use our initiative and then wait for an hour for people who are supposed to be the professionals John Potter

Mr Potter locked the gates to stop anyone else getting onto the pier and waited for the police to arrive.

He said: "When you've got somebody with a gun and when he's seen somebody he quickly puts it into his back pocket so it's not seen, it makes you a little bit suspect that he was perhaps waiting for somebody that he has a grudge against.

"Even if they don't have an armed response unit around they could get a patrol car down here with a least one or two constables to take charge of it.

"I had the mate of the ship, myself and a young stewardess and we were having to take command of the situation and there were no police here backing us up.

'There was no risk'

"We had to use our initiative and then wait for an hour for people who are supposed to be the professionals.

"It could have been a very serious incident."

Kent Police insisted on Monday they had not done anything wrong.

Spokesman Mark Pugash said: "We operate in the real world and we have to make the best that we can in sometimes difficult situations.

"In the case of Saturday, had the view of the officer in charge been that there was an increased risk then armed officers would have and could have been there sooner.

"But her view, and I believe she was absolutely right, was that there was no risk and she had arranged for armed officers to make their way there.

"Had the situation changed she could have accelerated that process significantly."