A City of London Police superintendent reported his ‘bizarre night shift’ on Twitter after three Romanian children from Nottingham walked into his police station in Bishopsgate and asked for a taxi home.
Supt Paul Clements wrote on the social media website that they walked in at 3am with no money asking for ‘a taxi back home and a McDonalds’, the Daily Mail reports.
Officers found the children, aged 12, 14 and 17, roaming the streets in the Square Mile in the early hours of the morning and, concerned for their welfare, took them to Bishopsgate. The children told police they lived with their parents in Nottingham, and were stranded, with no ID or money on them.
But instead of feeding the kids junk food and sending them at great expense back to their parents they bought them a sandwich from a nearby petrol station and called social services to take care of them. They also called the children’s parents who immediately travelled from Nottingham to pick them up.
It remains unclear how the children managed to travel to London or how they were able to leave their home without their parents noticing.
The number of Romanian immigrants in the UK has increased dramatically since EU restrictions on free movement of labour was lifted, despite claims that there would be no great increase.
The numbers sleeping rough and begging in London has tripled in the last 15 months, causing problems social problems particularly around some of the wealthiest areas of the capital. There have been reports of aggressive begging, pick pocketing and prostitution.
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