CCTV footage of teenage girls brandishing guns in Manchester city centre in broad daylight were not collected by police until the day after the shocking incident.

The pair were caught on film outside a shop in Dale Street, drinking booze and pointing and cocking the apparently imitation weapons, which they pulled from carrier bags.

Shopkeeper David Arathoon called 999 as he captured the girls antics on film - but officers did not arrive at his store until 16 hours later.

The actions of the girls have been condemned by police as they tackle the latest spate of gun crimes, which have claimed several lives in recent months.

They say officers were on the scene within seven minutes and further patrols were sent to the location later in the evening. But officers did not call on Mr Arathoon until about noon the next day, when they collected a copy of the footage.

Mr Arathoon says he rang 999 and told the operator he was taking CCTV of girls brandishing what looked like guns.

He also claims he stayed on the line to tell the operator in which direction they were heading. The operator, he says, said they would pick them up on the city centre's CCTV system.

Surprised

Mr Arathoon said: "I thought the situation was serious and was surprised at the response. If these had been real guns somebody could have died."

He said he would have still been at the shop when police say they went to the scene, but did not see any officers arrive.

Greater Manchester Police said: "We received the initial call at 8.16pm that night and patrol officers arrived at the scene at 8.23pm. Further officers were deployed to the scene."

A spokeswoman added that inquiries had been `ongoing'.

They appealed for help to identify the girls, who are between 16 and 18. One had long black hair and was wearing a red dress with a black belt and white trousers. The other had long brown hair in a pony tail and was wearing a black top.

Superintendent Mark Burtonwood said: "In this situation armed officers could be deployed, in which case it wouldn't matter whether the gun was real or a replica.

"It is very difficult, even to the trained eye, to decide if a gun is real of not and an armed officer only has a split second to make that decision."

Deputy leader of Manchester council Jim Battle said: “This is an outrageous incident.

“It is unprecedented in Manchester. This disgraceful image bears no relation to the reality of our vibrant city centre where hundreds of visitors flock week after week and where more people than ever are happy to live and work.

“This type of behaviour will not be tolerated and I am confident that the police will track down the perpertrators and deal with them appropriately.”

Anyone with information can call CID on 016 1 856 3540.