Taxi drivers at Stansted Airport were taught how to recognise the signs of child exploitation.

Essex police officers spoke to 106 taxi, Uber and private hire vehicle drivers on Saturday, January 13, giving them information from the Children's Society.

The information from this operation will be fed back to the Home Office, and will help produce a national programme to ensure taxi drivers receive vulnerability and exploitation training.

Officers identified that around a third of the drivers they spoke to had not had any form of training to help recognise child exploitation.

One driver was also dealt with for not having insurance.

Superintendent Phil Stinger said: "Protecting children from being targeted and exploited by criminals, preying on their vulnerabilities, is one of our key priorities.

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"Taxi drivers can play a really valuable role in this. They come into contact with a huge number of people every day so can be really effective in recognising behaviour they don’t think is right.

"So it’s really important we engage with them and make them aware of signs a child’s being exploited.

“I want to thank Stansted Airport for their support in this work."

Similar activity will take place around other parts of Essex in the coming months.