IT is disturbing indeed that kerb crawlers have taken to abandoning their cars in order to avoid police attention during their squalid activities in Broadgreen.

It is even more disturbing for the residents of the area, who have battled for years to rid themselves of the problems associated with their neighbourhood.

They say they need a regular police presence to stamp out the problem once and for all.

Yet officers will point to the fact they have been proactive in recent months operating a number of initiatives to get prostitutes off the streets.

It is the relative success of these operations, which is driving kerb callers out of their cars, according to the people who live there.

Perhaps the answer lies with officers taking a low-key approach in their attempts to stamp out the sordid practice.

But, one thing is for sure, whether the kerb crawlers' latest attempts to avoid detection will succeed is entirely a matter for the police and the police alone.