POLICE in Bridgwater are cracking down on two beggars for anti-social behaviour in the town centre.

Reporting to Bridgwater Town Council, PC Richard Smith said the force had made good ground in cracking down on the youths, but since the last meeting a separate issue of begging had become apparent.

“The incidents with youths in the town centre are ongoing but in total five youths have now been arrested, three have been issued with police cautions and two are on bail,” PC Smith said.

“We have been working directly with three schools and this has helped us identify offenders.”

PC Smith said joint letters had been sent from the police and schools to any youths found committing anti-social behaviour in the town.

He did however say that since the December meeting the police had received a number of calls regarding two beggars in the town centre.

PC Smith said: “A day of action is planned for Friday, January 20, where we will have the mobile police station in The Clink car park and continuing with patrols through the day, offering high visibility to the community and tackling anti-social behaviour in the area.”

Town clerk Alan Hurford said despite evidence the youths were gathering around stores where there was free wi-fi, Prezzo in Cornhill would not turn it off as it was part of the firm’s national policy.

PC Smith said: “We used to have a similar problem at McDonalds and we got them to change it so that only customers could use their wi-fi and this did have quite a big impact.

"But Prezzo say that is their national policy to have free wi-fi, there is not a lot we can do about that.”

The police were also praised for their work on the recent Bridgwater RAG day during which there were no major incidents.