BRANCHES of the Citizens' Advice Bureaux in Okehampton and Tavistock have been left in disarray after volunteers walked out en masse over issues with the new management system. The service in West Devon has more than 40 volunteers who are the backbone of the CAB, but following the redundancies of the four supervisors, which took effect last Friday, the volunteers say they are not prepared to run the offices without any supervision. Volunteer Ian Wonnacott said the problems began after the merger with Torridge, North and Mid Devon last year, when cuts were made in the service and a new centralised helpline facility was put into place. Members of the public can no longer contact the offices directly. 'The offices cannot not be manned solely by volunteers or advisors,' he said. 'Despite their extensive training and experience, problems do arise where we need a supervisor on hand. 'If we have a problem now we have to ring North Devon for advice. On the grounds of health and safety there is also no back-up if we have a client who becomes abusive or difficult.' Mr Wonnacott said that a session supervisor was also necessary to sit with trainee advisors when they first start giving advice. 'As volunteers we need supervisors when we have a difficult case,' he added. 'If there is nobody available then we cannot help the client. The CAB has a very good reputation and we pride ourselves on offering a first class service to the people of West Devon. 'The management has told us that our high standards of advice would have to drop under these new rules and this has not gone down very well at all with the volunteers.' It is understood that all appointments at the Tavistock CAB office in Kingdon House have been cancelled this week but a limited service has been running at Okehampton. Mr Wonnacott said that despite writing letters to the board of trustees and the new management, there had been no acknowledgement, let alone any answers to questions. 'Until the management wants to discuss the problems, walking out is the only action we can take,' he said. 'It is a decision that has not been made very easily because we know how the people of Okehampton and Tavistock rely on this service.' Okehampton town councillor Christine Marsh said during times when people were experiencing so many problems, the CAB was crucial. 'I am very disappointed that it has come to this and there has been such a breakdown in communication,' said Cllr Marsh. 'Volunteers are the backbone of our country and talking and communicating is fundamental. I really hope this gets resolved as the CAB is vital to our community.' Tavistock town councillor Dick Eberlie said the CAB was vitally important for the people of Tavistock. 'It is extremely effective and I hope that it will continue to provide an invaluable service for the town,' he said. Chief Executive of Torridge, North, Mid and West Devon Citizens' Advice Bureaux Stephen Davis said: 'In order to make sure West Devon CAB was able to meet the needs of our clients now and in the future, the service needed to make changes to ensure it was financially sustainable. 'This was the reason why West Devon merged last year and we have always been transparent that there was a need for a restructure as a result of this merger. 'Supervisor roles have been changed and are now consistent with the rest of the organisation. 'Tavistock and Okehampton CAB offices are open as normal to our clients. 'Volunteers are essential to the delivery of our service to the community, they don't run the offices by themselves and will be supported by supervisors and management. 'West Devon CAB is committed to the people that need and value our services.' Mr Davis said volunteers were supervised on site in both Tavistock and Okehampton.