Council's sex campaign could backfire

WESTMINSTER COUNCIL'S CAMPAIGN to cut off mobile telephone numbers used by prostitutes could go badly wrong. In an effort to 'name and shame' the mobile networks that aren't co-operating with its policy of getting rid of tarts' cards displayed in telephone boxes, the council has printed up some 'fake' cards.

These cards carry a phone number and a name for the heads of British mobile phone networks such as Arun Sarin of Vodafone, Sanjiv Ahuja of Orange, Dave McGlade of 02, Bob Fuller of 3, and Brian McBride of T-Mobile. Notice they didn't dare put Richard Branson's name on a card for Virgin Mobile or even Tom Alexander's, for that matter.

The council argues that the entrenched telecoms operator, BT, has co-operated with the result that only five per cent of cards now carry BT phone numbers. So the mobile operators should follow suit.

If it gets its way, disaster could strike. It only costs £4 to create 50 such cards at a London Tube station. So for a mere £4 you could have your arch rival's mobile phone numbers barred. As we already know from the way the IMEI database works, if your handset gets into the system erroneously, it's virtually impossible to challenge its 'stolen' status.

Anyway, if the numbers for mobile phones on contracts are barred, prostitutes will simply move over to using pre-paid handsets which can be activated in hours. As O2 has also pointed out, being a prostitute isn't actually illegal. So what other groups could be targeted in this way? Gays leaving their phone numbers in Westminster Council's public conveniences? µ