Sex workers, used condoms and syringes outside the gates of a primary school are every parent’s worst nightmare.
But for mothers and fathers at Mount Pleasant Junior School in Southampton it is a horrifying reality.
By day, the area looks nothing out of the ordinary, there’s a children’s soft play centre, a mosque, a supermarket and many MOT garages at work.
But at night the scruffy streets around the gloomy industrial estate transform into the Hampshire city’s sordid red light district.
Sex workers stand by the corners of Empress Road, Imperial Road and Mount Pleasant as kerb crawlers approach them in cars and on foot.
Despite police installing cameras in the area and the council recently closing a problematic footpath beside the school, kerb crawling is still a daily occurrence in the industrial estate, and many locals say it makes them feel unsafe.
Suspected sex workers have been pictured standing directly in front of the primary school after hours, and discarded condoms and needles have been found scattered across pavements, just yards from where children play.
Local businesses and parents told how the problem has been around for ‘more than 20 years’ and that they have little hope the council will do much to clamp down on it.
One father told : ‘It’s bad. I have five kids, they are underage. And they have been getting approached by the sex workers.’
When headed down to Empress Road to see for ourselves, countless opened condom packets and used condoms were found left on the street, along with beer cans and vodka bottles.
Syringes and crack pipes were also found laying by a disused building beside a mosque where locals say children’s classes are held.
And by the evening, after businesses had pulled down their shutters and schools locked their gates, suspected sex workers were seen speaking to men and approaching vehicles in the dead of night.
One worker at a local business told of how his colleague had been beeped at by a kerb crawler mistakenly taking her for a sex worker.
He said: ‘A colleague was waiting outside for a taxi after a shift and she got beeped at by a kerb crawler.
‘It obviously just isn’t nice. It isn’t the nicest area and it’s sad that this is what it is known for in Southampton.
‘Everyone in Southampton knows this as the red light district.
‘When I joined here for work, people were like “be careful going to that area”.
‘When we litter pick our car park, we find used condoms and that sort of thing all the time.’
Ahmed Mokhtar, owner of A&M South Accident Repair Centre on Empress Road, said he has had his client’s cars smashed into for use by sex workers, and has even had three cars burnt down as a result.
The 41-year-old said: ‘It’s bad. It’s embarassing.
‘Our customers have also been approached. People living in Southampton, they’re used to them, they know the reputation of the road.
‘But with people new to the area, it’s just so embarassing.
‘Especially now that it’s going to be darker a lot quicker, they come on to the road a lot earlier.
‘When I come early in the morning around 7am they are still here. And they come out again around 5pm.’
Speaking of vandalism to his clients’ cars, he said: ‘They smash the windows, we can’t leave any cars outside.
‘That’s come down a bit since the police put up cameras, but it’s still bad.
‘I parked a car opposite the road once, and they smashed the car and there were needles inside. I had to scrap the car.
‘Sometimes they burn it as well, they probably take crack or something and then drop a cigarette, and the car is burning. I lost three cars like that.’
Just outside the school gates, where children were playing just yards away in the playground, found two opened condom packets lying on the ground.
Suleman Lodhi, a parent of children who attend a local school, said: ‘It’s a nuisance.
‘Obviously as a parent, you don’t want your kids exposed to that, even if it is in the evenings.
‘I’ve taken my kids down to the Aldi behind the school several times and, you know, seen people walking up and down, standing around.
‘Our kids go to school up here. It’s not nice when you have kids.
‘It also just lowers the value of the area.
‘I notice they’ve closed off the Mount Pleasant footpath, that’s where they usually congregate, and on the corner of the school.’
On the issue of litter such as used condoms and needles left on the ground, he said: ‘I’m sure kids look down and say, “oh what’s that?”, and parents have to be delicate in answering those kinds of questions or you try and mask it, but it’s not something we should have to do.’
One parent told of how she has been left feeling ‘helpless’ as it doesn’t feel like the council or police are ‘bothered’.
Sareena Khan, whose child goes to Mount Pleasant Junior where sex workers stand in front of after hours echoed Mr Lodhi’s concerns, saying: ‘In the evenings, obviously now it gets dark early as well, I do see them around.
‘And I dislike it I’m not going to lie. But it’s just what do you do, what can you do?
‘It feels like police aren’t really bothered about it.
‘I do feel really really sorry for them, because you do think what’s driven them to get to such a point.
‘But even then how do you help them, because the normal person can’t really do anything to help.
‘We can’t give them money because we know that’s where it’s going to go. Whenever I go Aldi I do always say “do you want anything to eat?”, but beyond that there’s not much we can do.’
She even said she’s had to stop taking her children to the local park. She said: ‘I hate it but even the local park just round the corner, I’ve had to stop taking my children there.
‘There are disposed things there as well. You know kids, they’re curious, they ask questions, and you quickly walk them away. But it’s shame because it’s a nice area if you took that away and didn’t have that to worry about.
‘There’s needles around and it’s just not ideal. But it makes you feel quite helpless.’
Gerry Roberts, of Dansach Electrical Supplies Ltd on Empress Road, said when the sex workers first appear on the street they often look underage.
He said: ‘It’s been going on ever since the council decided they were going to clean up Derby Road, which is down the road, around 15-20 years ago.
‘They did that, and it just pushed them up here.
‘I get here about quarter past seven in the morning, and some of the girls are walking up and down the road then.
‘They just don’t know what time of day it is.
‘We’ve had guys stop to come and park in here and sometimes the sex workers think they’re stopping because they’ve seen the girls.
‘Over the years, there’s been some really young girls who look probably 16 or 17, maybe younger than that.
‘You an tell they’re quite clean and bright-faced, and the following year they’re riddled. They’re kept on hard drugs and stuff and they age like 50 years.
‘It’s quite sad.
‘They’ve also got pimps. Every now and again you see a guy walking them down the road.’
Meanwhile, by a disused building near a mosque, they are syringes, crack pipes and used condoms left on the ground among stones.
A local business owner said children often attend the mosque for classes and play around the area afterwards.
He said: ‘You’ve got a mosque right here. I’ve told the guy that runs that that the kids play in that area, and I’ve told him not to let them.
‘They’re picking up stones.
‘It’s been like this for years. It’s not a nice thing.
‘Police don’t do anything, so what can we do. The council are useless, that’s why people take things into their own hands sometimes.
‘It’s like we’re nothing. They’re out taking council tax from us and this that and the other but don’t do anything to help.
‘People come to Southampton and this here is my business around the back, and it’s just not a nice way to be remembered.’
Meanwhile, the owner of Empress Cafe, Ali Sabouri, said: ‘When I come in in the early morning, they ask me for free food and that kind of thing.
‘It doesn’t affect us much. But there are some officers further down there, and there are some young people working there, and you can see they are shy to come round this way because of this.
‘The police put cameras in so it’s a bit better now but it’s still not great.’
A footpath leading from Empress Road to Mount Pleasant Road which sits by the school was closed down by the council recently after it was found a lot of crime, including at least one case of rape, took place there.
Speaking to , one worker at a local garage said he ‘feels sorry’ for them and hoped charities and the council would do more to support the sex workers.
He said: ‘In terms of impact on businesses, one time earlier this year there was a car that was burned down because they were using it.
‘And say there were cars in the corners, they might start doing stuff there.
‘But I think mainly they are people that just need help. The council and the police, it doesn’t feel like they’re doing anything, they should have been patrolling the area.
‘As much as they may be a nuisance, we have to look at “how can we help you, how can we get you away from this?”
‘It’s easy to look down on them but for someone to be in that point in life, there’s a reason why they got here.
‘These are vulnerable people.’
Southampton City Council chief inspector Chris Douglas said: ‘Our work around a pocket of the sex industry in operation in Southampton’s Empress Road area is extensive and always ongoing.
‘We have specialist officers in place whose role is to engage with sex workers, conducting visits to those known to us with a focus on supporting and safeguarding them. We want to build up trust and confidence in them to allow us to establish any patterns of exploitation; whilst we continue to work closely with our partners across Southampton, and the rest of Hampshire & the Isle of Wight, on finding longer term solutions to prevent harm to them, as well as any associated anti-social behaviour in the area.
‘In terms of any related and wider anti-social behaviour and other issues in this area, we continue our longer term proactive work to address this. This has included installing CCTV cameras alongside Southampton City Council, which are reported to have made a positive difference in the area. Police continue to carry out dedicated high visibility patrols in the area.
‘As always, we urge people to report any issues to us on 101, or 999 in an emergency.’