IT IS no surprise to hear that prostitutes have returned to working in Cowley Road after moving their activities to Cowley.

The depressing fact is that under the current laws and with the current drug problems afflicting Oxford and every other British town, addicts selling their bodies will continue to happen.

You can move them on from one place but they will only resurface elsewhere.

It is the oldest profession in the world and it never goes away. It is now bedevilled by the increasing darker elements of Class A drug addiction and people smuggling.

One possible solution would be legalisation, but that would take a brave Government to consider and push through.

Even if brothels were legalised, the women currently selling themselves in the eastern side of Oxford would not be able to work there because of their addictions.

It might divert the men preying on these women away from the streets, but even that is a debatable point.

Under the current laws, the only thing that can be done is for our police, councils and health authorities to work together to offer the women assistance to get away from their addictions and pimps, while coming down hard on those who do not accept any hand of help.

But it is deeply worrying to hear that Oxford City Council, one of the bodies working on this problem, does not know how many prostitutes are working in the city.

One must know the scale of an problem to be able to address it.