Fears as squeegee pests are back

Squeegee merchants are back on roads in the Black Country, targeting motorists at traffic lights.

Drivers reported seeing three adults targeting vehicles in Birmingham New Road, Coseley, and asking for money in return for cleaning windscreens.

Thee group was spotted at around 12.30pm on Tuesday, close to the junction with Mason Street.

A driver who did not want to be named said: "It is the first time I have seen them outside London.

"I was on my way to Dudley. I would have thought it was a dangerous place to be doing it, right on the main road.

"They were squirting washing-up liquid on the windscreens of passing cars,and they also started it on a lorry.

"They didn't do anything to my car, but I wouldn't have been very happy if they had been squirting washing-up liquid at my car – it is bad for the paintwork."

It is the second time in a week that the squeegee merchants, who are thought to ask for as little as 50p for the rinse, have been seen in Dudley area.

Last Wednesday, police in South Staffordshire had to move along a group of windscreen washers who were targeting cars waiting at lights at the junction of the A449 Stourbridge Road and Dudley Road, Himley.

Officers said the squeegee gang was moved as a matter of safety as their actions were putting both themselves and motorists at risk.

Councillor Susan Ridney, of Coseley ward, said she had not received any complaints, but critisised the "stupidity" of anyone who would walk in to a busy road.

"I have seen it myself in Wolverhampton.

"They are really taking their lives in their hands to do this in Birmingham New Road – they are dicing with death."

Councillor Ridney added that approaching vehicles and asking for money was intimidating and annoying for some drivers.

"It is dangerous both for them and for the drivers. I am surprised they would be stupid enough to try it there."

In 2003, unsuspecting drivers waiting at traffic lights were being pounced on by the women dressed in saris and armed with soapy sponges on Wolverhampton's busy ring road. They were spotted together with young children carrying buckets and charging 50p-£1 to clean windscreens.

Motorists were seen handing money to the women not to clean their windows in a bid to avoid a confrontation.

Vinny Bolina, spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service in the West Midlands, said: "We would have to look at each case on its merit and decide if there's sufficient evidence to take any action.

"But it could be a public nuisance offence, which carries a maximum of six months imprisonment or a fine."

Mr Bolina added: "It wouldn't be classed as begging because they are offering a service and it's not hawking because it's a service, not goods.

"There could also be a case for obstructing a highway."