The ManicaPost
A CITY centre street has been named as the ‘unofficial red light district’ of Britain with sex being sold at all times of the day.
Residents and business owners say prostitutes — with many of girls appearing to be underage — sell their bodies on street corners from 6am.
Some claim girls as young as 12 are selling sex for drugs, Wales Online revealed.
People living on Commercial Road, in the Pill area of Newport, Wales, told of how the street is a ‘no-go’ area due to its seedy reputation.
They told how they were constantly having to call the police after seeing girls battered by their pimps — as well as being subjected to lewd gestures themselves.
“We’ve had problems just walking up to town,” said 67-year-old Pam Glover, who has lived in Pill all her life.
“You get accosted on the way up at quarter to 12 in the day. My neighbour said last week she called the police when at 6am she saw a pimp beating up a girl outside.”
Pam said the women made no bones about what they were offering.“I saw one opening up her coat to show the goods,” she said.
“She was wearing a top but her body language told you what she was offering. And it’s the deviants they are attracting. It’s not safe. They are attracting kerb crawlers and local residents are getting propositioned.”Pam said a passing driver even made obscene gestures at her with his tongue. “He was driving a company-owned van so I phoned up the company and said, ‘Do you know what your worker was doing?”
Pam said.“I was born on the next street from here, was brought up on the street after that and now I live in this one,” Pam said from her home in Adeline Street.”There have always been prostitutes in Pill, thanks to its docks. But, Pam says, it’s getting worse.She said: “We have always had prostitutes in Pill. But they were normal in the day and in the night they would go and do their business elsewhere.
“They are addicts now and they are psychopathic. They are not ordinary prostitutes. They need to get the money for drugs. It’s different.”
She claimed a police source had told them there were 30 prostitutes operating in Pill.“There’s a houseful on Ruperra Street,” Pam said. “The authorities told us they are going to look after the prostitutes but no one has told us how they are going to protect the residents.
“We’d like more police and we would like Commercial Road to be cleared up because it is the main thoroughfare.”Across the road from the junction of Ruperra Street and Commercial Street is the Jamia Mosque.
Farooq Dastgir and his friend Ali Ghafar worship there.“There’s a houseful on Ruperra Street,” Pam said. “The authorities told us they are going to look after the prostitutes but no one has told us how they are going to protect the residents.
“We’d like more police and we would like Commercial Road to be cleared up because it is the main thoroughfare.” Across the road from the junction of Ruperra Street and Commercial Street is the Jamia Mosque. Farooq Dastgir and his friend Ali Ghafar worship there.
“It’s 24/7 — walking these streets is like walking through Amsterdam,” Farooq said. “They will just approach you and if you’re a local person or vulnerable person the attitude is rude and abusive. They are only after money.
They have even attacked older people to get their money out of them, to try and blackmail them by telling their family that the man has been to bed with them.” Farooq said prostitutes have climbed into his car when he has parked at the mosque.
“It’s happened multiple times,” he said. “The minute you park the car someone will open the door and will say, ‘Are you looking for business?’ I have had to say, ‘Please leave the car.’
“It’s happened to four or five different people. It’s a regular event outside the mosque. I’ve another building on Commercial Road and you have to pass through them to get to the entrance.”
Ali said: “Once we were praying inside and when we came out we saw this lady was standing there. “She was fully drunk and said she had to go to the bathroom. She was told there was a bathroom inside.
She came into the lobby area and urinated there.”The pair of them felt helpless. “What can you do?” Farooq said. “We politely asked her to leave and then we washed the floor.”
The Pill Mill, on Courtybella Terrace, is a hub of community activity hosting everything from boxing matches to weddings. Boss Tracey Holyoake said working girls were often seen hanging around the disused public toilets at the bottom of the street.
“There are at least five girls I know of,” she said. “I think there are more because I am getting more reports every day. They are there from early in the morning until late at night.
“If you park anywhere in Pill they will approach you. Police drive past them like they have a designated area. They often drive past them and do nothing.
“I don’t know why they don’t take them off the streets. As much as they are vulnerable — and I get that because they are young — we have got residents here who are just as vulnerable.”—Mirror Online.
