Gloucestershire Police said they are on standby to help other forces dealing with the large-scale riots which have hit the country.

The force also said it felt well-prepared and equipped to deal with the situation should it spread to the county.

Trouble flared in London on Saturday after police shot a man dead in Tottenham.

A peaceful protest over the death of Mark Duggan, 29, was followed by violence which spread to other parts of the city on Sunday.

A third night of unrest saw violence spread outside London to Birmingham, Liverpool, Nottingham and Bristol.

Assistant chief constable at Gloucestershire police Kevin Lambert said: "We have well developed plans in place to deal with the type of criminality being seen elsewhere in the country, and are fully prepared to bring those plans into action should the disorder spread here.

"At present our main focus is on how we can provide support to our colleagues elsewhere and we are on standby to do so.

"We are not complacent and will be keeping abreast of the national situation."

Officers from Gloucestershire, along with colleagues from Wiltshire, Dorset, Avon and Somerset and Devon and Cornwall took part in an exercise at RAF Fairford last November.

The mock protest gave the 300 officers the opportunity to deal with an escalating level of hostility.

Gloucestershire Police training specialist Insp Steve McGrory said such exercises were the best way to "simulate large-scale crowd control" and to test their ability to provide a co-ordinated response.