Prostitutes from across West Yorkshire are filling the gap left by the success of a police vice campaign in Bradford.

In just one week Vice Squad officers arrested eight women who had travelled from as far afield as Halifax, Huddersfield and Skipton to work in the city's red light district.

Vice Sergeant Simon Beldon said the total number of prostitutes working the streets in the Thornton Road and Listerhills areas had fallen drastically.

But there was a new group of women from out of the area who had taken over some of their trade.

He said: "Over the last couple of weeks women from other areas appear to have been coming in to the city to work.

"We don't know the exact reasons why this has happened but we are going to be more high profile in the area, checking women out and moving them on.

"A lot of women have told us they're coming to Bradford because it was where they worked some time ago.

"Before the vice campaign, the majority of the working women in Bradford were from Bradford.

"There were some others from out of town, but certainly not as many as we are seeing now.

"I would warn women who want to come to the area to work that they will be given one opportunity to leave Bradford and to go back to where they came from.

"If they don't heed that warning they will be arrested and, where appropriate, put before the courts."

Earlier this month the Telegraph & Argus exclusively revealed how the police's vice crackdown on pimps, kerbcrawlers and prostitutes, which began last August, had helped slash the number of violent attacks on women working on the city's streets.

And in December the T&A told how a record number of prostitutes contacted health workers wanting help and advice on leaving the vice trade.

Calderdale Council's acting community safety manager Rachael Picker-ing said: "Working women from Halifax tend to go to the more lucrative areas like Bradford, Leeds and Huddersfield.

"If they want a first point of contact for help they can ring Calderdale Well Women Centre on (01422) 364265 or the Sex Worker Empowerment, Education and Training line on (01484) 537999 which covers Kirklees and Calderdale."