I've often puzzled as to why DMR spends so much time in Marlborough, think I've now found the answer..
REPORTS circulating in Marlborough of young teenage girls selling sex to lorry drivers in the town's main car park are untrue
, police commander Insp Jerry Dawson told the town council on Monday.
There have been rumours in the town for some weeks that girls as young as 12 had been seen getting into the cabs of lorries and cars parked in the George Lane car park.
Mayor Hilary Cripps became aware of the reports several weeks ago and asked police to investigate.
But Insp Dawson told councillors: "I have received a number of letters from members of the public.
"There is a misconception that there are some serious offences taking place."
He said some residents had feared that teenage girls were involved in prostitution after seeing them get into cars in the car park.
"That is not true, there is no evidence to support that," he said.
"Young people have been hanging around the lorries because they have TVs in their cabs."
He said some had been "foolish enough" to get into the cabs.
"We have dealt with that by having a word with the lorry drivers," he said.
He added, however, that there had been suggestions that some youngsters were trying to hi-jack lorries and steal their loads in the run-up to Christmas.
"The only truth in the letters of concern was that there have been some petty acts of vandalism."
Where necessary, he said, officers were sending letters to the parents of youngsters who came to their attention.
He said the threat of issuing £80 fixed penalty tickets made possible by new public order legislation was enough to break up the groups.
Most nights, a number of parked lorries can be found in the car park, but in recent months the car park has become a meeting place for groups of youngsters with as many as 50 gathering some nights.
The town's youth leader Jan Edwards has been attempting to deal with the problem of groups of youngsters gathering in places like the George Lane and Waitrose car parks, in the Priory Gardens earlier in the year and currently in St Mary's churchyard.
On Tuesday evening she arranged a visit by a mobile youth centre bus, to the George Lane car park.
She said the visit was a great success and attracted 15 or more teenagers who took part in various art projects and were able to use the Internet.She now hoped it would encourage youth agencies to work together to get a mobile youth centre for the area.
Another success has been the Bluez n Zuz monthly disco run by the police at the Azuza nightclub in the High Street which attracted about 120 on Tuesday for its Christmas event.
Insp Dawson said: "We are trying very positively to police the problem, working in partnership with others to do this.
"We hope the youth service delivers what it says it will."
Coun Nigh Fogg brought smiles to his colleagues faces when he said the problem of groups congregating in public places in Holland had been dealt with by playing loud band music that caused them to disperse.
Referring to the groups of teenagers who have been meeting by St Mary's Church he suggested: "Perhaps a few choruses of Handel's Messiah might do the trick
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