Reporter propositioned by kerb crawlers (From Swindon Advertiser)

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Reporter propositioned by kerb crawlers

2:35pm Friday 9th May 2008

comment Comments (47) Have your say »

By Emily Walker »

TEN kerb crawlers an hour were trawling the streets of Broadgreen.

In an Advertiser investigation into the men who pay for sex, I spent two evenings on the corner of Manchester Road and Salisbury Street.

Almost dead on 9pm the kerb crawlers started
Emily Walker

Our investigation took place last Friday night and on Wednesday, after making the neighbourhood police officers aware of what we were doing for safety reasons.

In just one hour on Friday 10 kerb crawlers made approaches to me.

On Wednesday, a man stopped his car next to where I stood on Salisbury Street, wound down his window and asked "do you want business?"

When I asked the chubby eastern European to repeat what he had said her asked again: "You want business? You got business?"

After I made it clear I was a reporter from the Advertiser and asked him to explain why he had stopped me he replied: "I'm just driving. I don't know why I stopped, I'm just driving."

For the first half an hour on Friday evening I stood on the street corner and got little more than dirty looks from passers by and parents ushering their children past me on the pavement.

But almost dead on 9pm the kerb crawlers started coming out of the woodwork.

The first driver to make his intention known was a white van driver.

The van slowed to walking pace as he passed my spot on the pavement and I was shocked to see that this man was not even slightly ashamed to be travelling in a vehicle with his company name branded down the side.

As I nervously checked my colleague, and security guard for the night, Jeremy, still had me in his sights, the van circled the block three or four times in the space of a couple of minutes.

Finally, the bespectacled driver in his 60s, with a beer belly and ruddy complexion, came to a stop in the middle of the road and beckoned to the next side street.

He then pulled up in the next road but, not wanting to stray from my safe spot, I stayed put.

When the van driver realised I was not playing along he returned to searching the streets for another girl passing me every few minutes and making hand signals.

Pretty soon I saw him pull up a few metres down the side street from me and, with a stomach-turning lurch, I saw another girl get into the front seat of his van.

Over the course of the next hour, this pattern of behaviour became very familiar.

The lone male drivers of a silver Mazda convertible, a dark blue car, a Posche and a shiny black pick-up circled the streets, crawling past me then pulling up in side streets waiting for me to approach their windows.

By 10pm there was a regular flow of cars circling my corner, trying to make eye contact and hand signals.

The Broadgreen police community support officers warned me that kerb crawlers are frequently getting out of their cars to avoid detection.

Men walking past made comments and gave me funny looks.

When a man with a greasy grey ponytail and wearing a sleeveless leather jacket rattled a handful of loose change at me I decided it was time to call it a night.

Over the course of both evenings in Salisbury Street one of the most shocking things was the reactions from ordinary people walking home or to the shops.

Dressed in jeans and a hoodie I probably looked less provocative than I would on a normal night out.

But everyone seemed to know why I was there and most averted their eyes as they walked past. Worst of all was when I started to see the pity in their eyes.

One man even tried to give me a reassuring little smile and, although I'm sure he meant well, it made me feel so much worse.

The Advertiser passed on descriptions of drivers and vehicles to the police

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Your Say YourSwindon

emmylou83, Stratton says...
3:06pm Fri 9 May 08

Rather you than me thats for sure hope that Dave gave you danger money for that

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Bitter Lemon, Swindon says...
3:06pm Fri 9 May 08

Why do these kerbcrawlers automatically assume that all lone women on this road are prostitutes? Strangely enough we live in a time when women can vote, go to the pub and leave the house on our own. What if it had been a young girl on her own - it would be very intimidating.

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me here, somewhere says...
3:17pm Fri 9 May 08

How would the reporter have wanted people to react to her? I always try to distract my children when there are prostitutes waiting for business. How do you explain to a 5 year old why ladies stand there, clearly a lot of the time not wearing everyday clothes? I don't condemn these girls, as they have their reasons for working in this field, but I don't think a reporter for the local paper should seem shocked by people's reactions.

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Taxpower, Swinetown says...
3:17pm Fri 9 May 08

Bitter Lemon wrote:
Why do these kerbcrawlers automatically assume that all lone women on this road are prostitutes? Strangely enough we live in a time when women can vote, go to the pub and leave the house on our own. What if it had been a young girl on her own - it would be very intimidating.

maybe women should behave like women and not slags, that would definitely be a good start

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Bitter Lemon, Swindon says...
3:23pm Fri 9 May 08

Taxpower - look at what the reporter is wearing in the picture. Hardly what I would call provocative. Anyway, why should women have to dress in a certain way just so kerbcrawlers will not approach them.

I'm assuming you're the type of man that thinks if a women is wearing a short skirt and is indecently assaulted then she was "asking for it".

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emmylou83, Stratton says...
3:50pm Fri 9 May 08

me here wrote:
How would the reporter have wanted people to react to her? I always try to distract my children when there are prostitutes waiting for business. How do you explain to a 5 year old why ladies stand there, clearly a lot of the time not wearing everyday clothes? I don't condemn these girls, as they have their reasons for working in this field, but I don't think a reporter for the local paper should seem shocked by people's reactions.

Um she wasn't exactly wearing the most revealing outfit was she?? She could've been stood waiting for a friend or anything

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Annie, Stratton says...
3:53pm Fri 9 May 08

I think the important thing is to work out a way of stopping this from happening in the future. It is all very well prostitutes being propositioned - they are after the business, but if girls just walking along the street are being targeted that is a different amtter entirely in my view.

Maybe the answer is to license brothels....but would the girls along Manc Road be the ones that applied to work there? I think that's the key.

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emmylou83, Stratton says...
3:56pm Fri 9 May 08

Maybe the answer is to license brothels

It'll never happen, I agree I think it will help but with the prostitutes on manc road mainly being there to fund the drug habit I cant see them going to a brothel where they will have to be clean

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Cwis, Swindon says...
3:56pm Fri 9 May 08

Has anyone else noticed this is a duplicate of a previously posted story today - just with a different picture?

I read in the Adver this week about how much some of the prostitutes charge. I think it's wrong to post such costs as wont that only encourage people to go out looking for these women and the cheap services?

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emmylou83, Stratton says...
3:59pm Fri 9 May 08

Has anyone else noticed this is a duplicate of a previously posted story today - just with a different picture?

Not completely the same this is the longer version haha

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me here, somewhere says...
4:03pm Fri 9 May 08

Emmylou,

I am not saying that people should assume that people are prostitutes by their clothing, however, the area is notorious for prostitutes and the reporter was posing as one and I am surprised that she was shocked by people's reactions. the residents in that area must know what many of these girls are doing.

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LordBelacqua, Swindon says...
4:03pm Fri 9 May 08

maybe women should behave like women and not slags, that would definitely be a good start

I agree with Bitter Lemon here - dressing a certain way does not make a woman fair game. Yes - the behavior of young "ladies" in today's society has dropped magnificently to a new low, but considering that prostitution has been around since early civilisation, I don't think that that's the problem here, do you?

I suppose this is appeal of brothels - people who get in stranger's cars for a living are, for the more perverted minds in this country (a rapidly rising figure) fair game.

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emmylou83, Stratton says...
4:07pm Fri 9 May 08

me here,

Then thats the residents prejudice as I'm sure not every girl in the street in looking for business

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me here, somewhere says...
4:14pm Fri 9 May 08

I don't think we have anythinhg to argue about here, I agree with you! My comment was that I was surprised that a reporter investigating men who pay for sex in an area where kerbcrawlers and prostitutes operate would be surprised by the residents reactions or prejudices. And as I have seen in your previous posts that you trained as a teacher, perhaps you can tell me how you would explain prostitution to a 5 year old, as you would know they are perceptive without prejudice to situations and people that are a little different.

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emmylou83, Stratton says...
4:17pm Fri 9 May 08

Well a prostitute (although I wouldn't use that phrase with a 5yr old) is paid to make someone happy.

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me here, somewhere says...
4:19pm Fri 9 May 08

I'll remember that one!!! Maybe!

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emmylou83, Stratton says...
4:19pm Fri 9 May 08

Actually let me rephrase that to make grown ups happy

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Voice of Reason, The Parks says...
4:19pm Fri 9 May 08

So are you saying some girl waiting on a street corner for her mate to say pick her who is running late, shoule expect to either get looked at by passer's by as being a Pro or **** etc or should expect cars to pull up and to be asked do she want business. How you would you feel if it was your daughter waiting there...?

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me here, somewhere says...
4:23pm Fri 9 May 08

VOR who are you asking?

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me here, somewhere says...
4:23pm Fri 9 May 08

VOR who are you asking?

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me here, somewhere says...
4:23pm Fri 9 May 08

VOR who are you asking?

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me here, somewhere says...
4:25pm Fri 9 May 08

Ooops I've got fat fingers!

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emmylou83, Stratton says...
4:26pm Fri 9 May 08

Actually let me rephrase that to make grown ups happy

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emmylou83, Stratton says...
4:27pm Fri 9 May 08

umm ok I have no idea how that happened haha

No one should be accused of preostitution no matter what street they happen to stand on

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Voice of Reason, The Parks says...
4:27pm Fri 9 May 08

Iam sking yourself and anyone in general, if a woman is stood on the street corner that dont make her a Ho.I have seen women dress worse and offer it for free in the Town Centre..

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me here, somewhere says...
4:30pm Fri 9 May 08

VOR,
I agree with you too! But she was stood there waiting to be approached with a minder in tow, and I am afraid that if girls stand in a certain way in a particular area then they will be presumed prostitutes. Perhaps the reporter should see how many propositions she gets in Grange Drive!!

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emmylou83, Stratton says...
4:33pm Fri 9 May 08

Perhaps the reporter should see how many propositions she gets in Grange Drive!!

I'd rather not have a reporter posing as a prostitute down my street thank you very much

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me here, somewhere says...
5:41pm Fri 9 May 08

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Terence, Swindon says...
7:38pm Fri 9 May 08

The conclusion of "an Advertiser investigation into the men who pay for sex" must be that they are overweight, the only two personal descriptions the reporter gives are of a 'beer belly' and a 'chubby'.

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Blackmalkin, Wanborough says...
8:40pm Fri 9 May 08

My sister used to live just off Manny Road and was scared to go out at night because she was frequently propositioned by drivers. You don't have to be wearing a PVC miniskirt and high heels, either.

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Nuddy, Swindon says...
10:36pm Fri 9 May 08

emmylou83 wrote:

Perhaps the reporter should see how many propositions she gets in Grange Drive!!

I'd rather not have a reporter posing as a prostitute down my street thank you very much

No, nor would I but it's too late now.

It's just as well this very ignorant reporter didn't decide to stand outside my home, because she wouldn't have been there for very long.
I cannot imagine the police would have approved of this sensationalist journalism, and it would have served this reporter right if she had been nicked for soliciting.

So congratulations to Emily Walker for a top, intelligent, thoughtful report. 2 nights spent encouraging kerb crawlers to drive around and around, to the detriment of local residents, just to get on the front page. Thanks for nothing.

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theyellowcanoe, Swindon says...
11:20pm Fri 9 May 08

Darlings, this is investigative journalism in Swindon!! Comical.... that's why everyone decent jumps ship to the Echo.

All we've seen this week with these so called investigations is massive photographs with little reporting and poor editorial content. What the Adver have done in these reports is nothing more than some kind of social experiment as opposed to credible reporting.

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actually, Swindon says...
12:04am Sat 10 May 08

You make me laugh! Clearly this report was to bring to light the severity of the problem in Manc Road. Not everyone in Swindon realises it's that bad. How exactly is it the reporters fault that she has been asked to do this for her job. What kind of reporter would she be if she didn't actually report?!?

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SpeakUp, Swindon says...
12:41am Sat 10 May 08

So standing about on a street corner in a known red light district and being propositioned by sleazy men was a shock? Doubtful. If it was not expected the Adver would not have set up the poor girl to be subjected to this cr+p. Of course women should be free to walk along a street without being propositioned by some low-life who can't pull a date in the normal way. But standing about in the same spot for hours on end in a red light district is bound to make the sleazes assume you're soliciting. No news here at all, I think.

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Foxhill, Eldene says...
1:06am Sat 10 May 08

Why are the adver bothering to go out to find prossies when they list them in the classified section of their own paper?

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Frontier(s), says...
6:40am Sat 10 May 08

emmylou83 wrote:
umm ok I have no idea how that happened haha No one should be accused of preostitution no matter what street they happen to stand on

What, even people who are prostitutes and who are standing in a well known red-light district?

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old jarge, beanacre says...
6:42am Sat 10 May 08

We hear all these tales of woe about people not being able to survive on their pay, yet here are men with money to throw away. What fun is there in going with some drug-craving tart who hates your guts?

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Mumstheword, Walcot says...
9:56am Sat 10 May 08

I have found this week's reports informative and interesting. I have learnt a lot more about this subject. I think that Emily's last report really took us into the seedy world that is prostitution in our town. A different aspect to our town, albeit not a great one!

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karen leakey, Broadgreen says...
10:08am Sat 10 May 08

On behalf of many residents in the Broadgreen area I would like to thank Emily Walker for this report. It was NOT welcome and I can only assume is being used to highlight your own career. Thursday night saw a huge increase in traffic in this area - as always is the case when a story regarding prostitution is highlighted, there is an increase in people driving around to see what is going on. This is a residential area not a goldfish bowl. Many people have been working very hard for a very long time to make life better for the residents. I could give a very long and in-depth report but this is not the place for that. The last few years the Police have been doing outstanding work and working with the community very positively to tackle this problem.
Do not forget the young ladies who work the streets do so of their own free choice we have no choice in having to live with this well thanks to this report we do want to do something now we want this problem gone from this area and we will campaign to make this happen.
The next Broad Street Area Community Council meeting is Wednesday 4th June
7.30pm at the Broadgreen Centre, Salisbury Street I would like to invite Emily Walker along as our Guest Speaker where the findings of your report can be discussed with the people that have to live with this problem.

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Persephone, Lancashire says...
10:56am Sat 10 May 08

Nothing changes. 20 years ago I lived in Broad Street and worked in an office in the town centre. I was often propositioned as I went about my life. Ignore the men and they'll go away but of course it would be better if they weren't there at all.

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Mumstheword, Walcot says...
1:17pm Sat 10 May 08

Karen

I sympathise with you as I know how hard yourself and others have worked in the Broadgreen area. However, please don't be too hard on the reporter, she was after all only reporting and highlighting a problem in our town. She was doing her job.

It must be incredibly difficult for you and the other residents of the area, as you say you have to live there. I remember the anger I felt when I lived in a flat in York Road, I had a prostitute standing outside the kids bedroom window one night.

Where do you stand on the subject? Should it be legalised and should sex workers work from brothels in non residential areas?

Beckie x

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Frontier(s), says...
3:54pm Sat 10 May 08

Is this the same Karen Leakey who likes to pretend that Broadgreen isn't a well known red light district?

Ever since I was old enough to know what it meant I have known that Manchester Road is where Swindon's prostitutes are based.

It's very common knowledge, even school kids make jokes about it.

Mind you, after the recent hammer attack case, I'd have thought Broadgreen had bigger problems to worry about.

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mavis, Swindon says...
5:34pm Sat 10 May 08

I think the reported has done a good job highlighting the problem thatthe residenst have had to face, Even if you legalise it they still will hang around the streets drugged up and making a nuisance of themselves.

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Captain Sensible, Near Swindon says...
7:26pm Sat 10 May 08

I should imagine the reason she was hassled by so many blokes was that she was rather more attractive than the usual crack whores who hang around the area. I've lived in Swindon for over 20 years and as others have said this area has always been a red light district. The fact the the police and SBC have chosen to pretty much ignore the issue for all this time is hardly news. Whats the Adver Editor getting so steamed up about? Especially considering the dodgy adds for 'massage parlours' and '44dd girls' it had in the small ads pages on the same day!

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Frontier(s), says...
11:20pm Sat 10 May 08

As with all crime, the police could quite easily stop it overnight.

The problem is, we have a government who support criminals, have criminals vote for them and who HATE the average man and woman.

It's well known that Broadgreen is a red light district, the problem is not the prostitutes, the problem is a government who pick and choose which of their own laws they'd like to enforce.

You want to sell your body? Fine (even thought it's illegal).

You drive at 31 mph in a 30mph zone even though it effects NOBODY, expect a £60 fine and three points.

Just another example of the topsy-turvy world of NuLabour.

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vwfudge123, swindon says...
1:49pm Sun 11 May 08

The men must have been desperate to proposition you.

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who dat?, says...
9:45pm Sun 11 May 08

Interesting that 6 MONTHS after the Government and the Newspaper Society launched a campaign to reduce sex trafficking
that the Adver continues to run these ads - presumably Mr Gannett carries more clout at Adver towers than d-d-d-d-dithering Gordon!
Any views from the " Minister for Britishness" or B'Anne'd Wagon Snelgrove?

See:
holdthefrontpage.co.

uk/news/080201sextra

de.shtml
newspapersoc.org.uk/

Default.aspx?page=29

80

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