The decision by Warrnambool City Council to remove security guards from the late night rank drew the ire of readers and commentators on The Standard’s Facebook page. 

Of the 283 votes, 249 users said there should be security supervising the rank, while 34 said no.

The council said the $30,000 service had to be cut due to the state government-imposed rate capping.

“The precinct is brightly illuminated after dark and monitored through CCTV cameras,” a council spokesman said.

“In light of rate capping imposed by the Victorian government and on the effectiveness of CCTV monitoring a decision was made to remove the security officers.” 

Security will no longer attend at the rank from this Saturday evening.