Middlesbrough kerb crawlers caught in police clamp down

Kerb crawlers were exploiting street sex workers' vulnerable situation, police said

Nearly 40 kerb crawlers have been caught on Teesside in six months.

The majority of the men were local but one had travelled in a camper van from Tyneside, Cleveland Police said.

Plain-clothes police officers caught eight men in the first five days of a new operation targeting parts of Middlesbrough and Stockton.

The force said it wanted to tackle anti-social behaviour caused by street prostitution, and target men exploiting vulnerable sex workers.

Twenty-eight men have been sent on a one day course to "address their behaviour", a spokesperson said.

The others have been sent to court or are still to be dealt with by police.