​A crackdown on kerb crawlers has slashed vice in the city.

Humberside Police launched a team charged with cutting down sex work in the city months ago.

The team carried out plain clothes operations and began regular patrols of the city’s red light districts, around Myton Street and Hessle Road.

Since then, 150 kerb crawlers have been arrested and forced to sign ‘acceptable behaviour contracts’ and 86 offenders have been put on new rehabilitation courses.

This compares to less than five arrests the previous year.

Several persistent offenders have also taken to court and fined £675.

Meanwhile, street workers have been given a break by police through a football-style ‘yellow card’ system.

If they are caught soliciting, they are now effectively given two ‘get out of jail free cards’ every three months, rather than face immediate arrest.

These yellow cards contain numbers of various voluntary and charity organisations, which can help them out of sex work.

If they can prove they are working with these agencies and accessing help, they are left alone.

Since the more lenient scheme came into play, not a single woman has been charged with prostitution and it is believed 21 sex workers out of the 51 known to be working the city’s streets have left the industry.

The scheme has attracted nationwide interest, including from the Met Police in London.

Detective Sergeant Billy Butler, of the sexual exploitation unit, told the Mail: “Our intelligence suggests that kerb crawlers visiting the area have reduced significantly – around the 70 per cent mark.

“This is backed up by results from covert operations and plain clothes patrols in the area.

“In this time not one single women has been sent to court, yet we have removed 21 of the 51 current known working women who work on the streets from our monthly meeting.

“Of the remaining 30 women the majority are engaging better than ever before.”

He added: “This is down to hard work and consistency from all involved, referral and support agencies, the police and the women themselves.”

DS Butler insisted the scheme was not a “soft touch” for sex workers.

He said: “We know the problems their associated behaviour does cause for local residents and visitors to the area.

“It is an educated approach giving them some responsibility to help with their chaotic lifestyles which cannot be changed overnight by consistently arresting them.

“We have issued everyone at least one street caution for soliciting and we have the systems and processes in place to take it to the next step [court] when we need to.”

The news comes as charity Hull Lighthouse Project admitted three generations of the same families and even children have been found working the city’s streets.

Claire Maxey, an outreach co-ordinator with Hull Lighthouse said: “It is a great asset having a dedicated team of police tackling the cause of street prostitution.

“They have built up a good relationship with the women and therefore they have been more willing to report attacks.

“The yellow cards have also increased the requests for help and support from women who in the past have not been aware of our project.

“It has also improved the working relationships with other agencies in the city and enabled us on occasions to joint work with them to enable women to access services that may be required, such as drug treatment services.”