POLICE in Morecambe are determined to flush perverts out of the town's seafront toilet blocks in a bid to clean up the resort.

Bobbies are acting after complaints about cottaging' in public toilets soared.

They believe many of the illicit meetings are arranged over the Internet with men then flocking into the resort to gratify their sick habit.

Now they have decided to put a stop to the problem with a high-profile anti-cottaging poster campaign.

And cops say if they catch anyone in the act they will take whatever action they see fit.

The practice involves strangers meeting in toilet blocks for sordid sexual encounters.

The public toilets at the West End, the ones at the Clock Tower and the conveniences at Happy Mount Park are blighted by the depraved problem most nights of the week, say police.

And complaints have soared from people wanting to spend a penny only to find men engaging in sex acts with each other.

"I raised this issue at a meeting of Lancaster City Council a while back," says concerned Morecambe Cllr David Kerr.

"I am obviously pleased that the police are going to do something about it now, although I think that we all know the problem will not go away totally because it has gone on for so long.

"Rather than disappearing it will just move somewhere else but I just hope that it doesn't return.

"And I would hope that the police can find out if any of the people taking part in these practices are under-age because it does need stopping."

PC Sarah Cole, one of the officers behind the clean-up, says: "Residents are very concerned about this.

"One man who took his grandson to the toilet was confronted by a group of men who were carrying out sexual acts on each other. It is very upsetting for local people."