ROUGH sleepers were evicted by the council in a crackdown at Southall green.

People sleeping in the grounds of Manor House were forced to move on and officers removed drugs paraphernalia before securing the shelter's door last week.

Alcohol was also seized from 20 street drinkers and one person was caught with cannabis during the blitz.

Council leader Jason Stacey (Con, Greenford Green) said: "This latest operation in Southall reaped more excellent results for the council, police and the other partner agencies who are working together to clean up our streets and make local communities safer.

"Not only are we tackling the problems head on, we're also reaching out to residents and business owners to remind them of their responsibilities and provide advice on what they can do to protect themselves from becoming victims of crimes like motor vehicle theft and burglary.

"Cleaner streets and safer communities are two of the council's three priorities and these targeted and coordinated partnership action days represent just one of the many ways we are working to make a real difference."

The day was led by the council's community safety team and involved local police, Southall park rangers, London Fire Brigade, the council's waste and recycling contractor ECT, the DVLA, Premier Recovery, envirocrime officers and workers from Trading Standards, Parking Services and Licensing.

Other actions included 100 square metres of graffiti being removed, 21 tonnes of rubbish being removed, three untaxed vehicles being impounded and 23 people being stopped and searched.

More than 30 personal attack alarms were handed out and police identified ten properties as being vulnerable to burglary and issued advice.