Prostitutes selling their wares in broad daylight have been targeted by police on horseback in a vice crackdown.

Residents near Tooting Bec Common had complained growing numbers of prostitutes were working all hours along Garrad's Road in Streatham since Lambeth's dedicated vice squad was dissolved last month.

Police responded by sending in the horse-mounted officers last Friday alongside the local safer neighbourhood teams to encourage the women to move on.

PC Rebecca Young, from St Leonard's safer neighbourhood team, said: "We want to show both the prostitutes and residents that we won't stand for this kind of activity in this area."

Yet Pamela Mazava, who helps the prostitutes through homeless charity SPIRES in Tooting Bec Gardens, said she thought the use of mounted officers was a waste of police time.

She said "It's a short term action when really the police should be looking at a long term solution and concentrating their resources on that."

PC Young defended the police's decision to run the operation during the day - and the use of horses - even though no prostitutes were there.

The majority of prostitutes work the streets at night after 10pm.

"The complaints show this is happening all day, every day," she said. "It was still a success because it sends out a very good message to residents we are doing everything we can."

She said the use of horses was not to scare the prostitutes but to give the operation a very high visibility to alert both residents and the prostitutes to the fact it was going on.