HOTELS in South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse are still failing to spot the dangers of child sexual exploitation, a recent test has revealed.

Last month, the two district councils worked with police to put hotels in the area to the test.

An officer in plain clothes visited 12 hotels in southern Oxfordshire and tried to book a double room while accompanied by a 14-year-old girl with no identification.

To pass the test, hotel staff should refuse the booking and call police, but six accepted. While the other six refused the booking, they did not call the police.

Neither Thames Valley Police nor the council would reveal the names of the hotels involved. 

Sergeant Steve Bobbett, from Thames Valley Police, said: “As the TVP lead during this operation I was disappointed at the level of failure, especially since we had run the operation earlier.

“There were some repeat failures which was particularly disappointing. On the positive side, a number of establishments had attended training and implemented safeguarding procedures.

“This is potentially exposing young and vulnerable victims to very serious abuse and we must do all we can to safeguard these potential victims.

"These hotels may be the last point for safety for these victims and the industries co-operation and awareness is key in helping us all to deal with this.”

The results of the test, which ran over the course of two nights, are a slight improvement from a previous operation that took place in June when nine out of 12 hotels accepted the booking.

Following the June operation, ‘hotel watch’, a scheme which sees police, councils and hotels sharing information, arranged for hotels and B&Bs to take part in awareness training delivered by the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board’s ‘Kingfisher’ team.

Following the latest results more training sessions are planned in 2018 to help raise awareness of what staff need to be aware of.

In the most recent operation the hotels that accepted the booking were also tested to see if they would allow the girl to buy alcohol. Two failed to ask her for ID and subsequently served her an alcoholic drink.

As a result, those two premises have since attended a meeting with the district councils’ licensing team and improvements have been implemented.

Elizabeth Gillespie, cabinet member for community safety at South Oxfordshire District Council, said: “While there was some improvement from the previous operation it is extremely concerning to see that several hotels are still not challenging someone who could be putting a young person in serious danger.”

Eric Batts, Ms Gillespie's counterpart at Vale of White Horse District Council, added: “Child Sexual Exploitation is a serious crime and hotels and B&Bs must make sure that they don’t allow it to take place on their premises and that they follow the correct procedure if they suspect there’s a problem.”

More operations will be run during the course of the year.