Pedlars are back on Oxford's main shopping street, selling their wares illegally in the run-up to Christmas.

A one-off police and council operation on Saturday, September 8, caught 13 suspects trading in the area.

The crackdown followed an Oxford Mail story highlighting the problem in August.

Two were arrested over immigration irregularities and 11 were cautioned for suspected illegal trading and may face court action.

But three returned a week later, and the presence of a number of illegal traders in the street on Sunday suggests they will continue to pitch up in the run-up to Christmas.

No action was taken on Sunday and the pedlars approached by the Oxford Mail declined to comment.

Pc Martin Wizard, neighbourhood officer for the city centre, said: "The police are currently working with the city council and the Immigration Service to eradicate illegal street trading in Oxford city centre, particularly in Cornmarket Street."

Colin Cook, chairman of the council's central, south and west area committee, called for more council patrols at weekends.

He said: "What we actually need is a local bylaw so that we can ban pedlars from certain streets. According to an Act dating back to the 1800s, pedlars are allowed to ply their trade provided they move about from place to place.

"If they stay in one place for longer than about half an hour, then their activities become illegal, and illegal trading is certainly taking place in Cornmarket Street at the moment."

Fishmonger Richard Alden, chairman of the Covered Market Traders' Association, said: "Cornmarket now has a real problem with illegal traders which needs to be dealt with.

"No-one wants to deny anyone a living, but there has to be a level playing field and these people are not paying rent and their portion of the rates.

"I don't think shoppers particularly warm to it either - there is a limit to how many pashminas, sunglasses or jumping jelly beans you can buy. They are selling tat and getting in the way of genuine traders, who want to maximise their takings over the Christmas period."

Jean Fooks, executive member for a cleaner city, said: "We are aware of this problem and we do need extra enforcement, but at the moment, we only have one street trading officer working on a part-time basis. We need more enforcement at weekends, but we need to be able to pay for extra staff.

"One way of funding extra staff might be to increase fees paid by street traders who have legal pitches."