Harrow will keep its own police cells after plans to merge them with Brent were dropped after a campaign, it has been revealed.

The proposal to close the borough’s 13 cells, which process 5,000-6,000 people arrested or detained each year, and take suspects to police stations in Brent instead was quietly dropped by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime on Friday.

Harrow West MP Gareth Thomas, who started a ‘Save Our Cells’ campaign in May in a bid to stop the closures, had argued that the idea would mean Harrow detectives would turn into a mere “taxi service”, spending too much time driving suspects to Brent instead of tackling crime.

The politician collected hundreds of signatures on a petition against the plan, raised it in Parliament with Home Secretary Theresa May and wrote to Met Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe to raise his concerns.

He said: “It is the right decision for a number of reasons. The residents in Harrow would have been stripped of their police officers, who would have been spending their time running a taxi service for criminals.

“I am relieved that this decision has been made in favour of keeping the custody suites and would like to take this opportunity to thank all the residents who signed petitions and joined in with demonstrations.”

Harrow Police confirmed it had been told of the decision but was waiting for more information.