Home Office campaign threatens kerb crawlers with heavy fines

The Government has launched a multi-million pound advertising campaign warning kerb crawlers of an arrest and a fine, as part of its crackdown on prostitution.

The campaign by the Home Office will include local radio station ads warning kerb crawlers if caught it could “bring shame to their family, friends and employers”. The ads will also caution kerb crawlers over a potential arrest, a court appearance, warning letters to their homes, a £1,000 fine and a potential driving ban.

The series of ads will proclaim reminders to potential kerb crawlers that “the price they pay for sex may be more than they bargained for.”

The Government’s prostitution strategy, which provides a framework for local areas to develop their own responses, aims to shine the spotlight on those creating the demand for street-based prostitution – kerb crawlers.

The campaign has been created by Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R and will target key target areas including London, Bristol, Middlesbrough, Southampton and Leeds.

A Home Office research study, published in 2004, profiled 127 kerb crawlers and found that they were aged between 17 and 80, almost half were married, two-thirds were in full employment and three-quarters had no previous criminal convictions.

A statement from the Home Office minister Vernon Coaker says: “Local communities are fed up with street prostitution. For the residents it is intimidating, unpleasant and unsafe.

“Kerb crawlers make a choice when they pay for sex and I want to make them think twice. This campaign sends a stark warning to them that the price they pay could be more than just financial. It could cost them their