Mobile phone companies have been urged to block phone numbers used by prostitutes, in a bid to crack down on the sex industry during the Olympic games.

Kit Malthouse, London’s Deputy Mayor responsible for policing, said he feared the 2012 Olympics could lead to an increase in prostitution and human trafficking.

The Metropolitan Police Authority has already drawn up plans to counter an upsurge in prostitution linked to the games, after research found that the number of human trafficking victims almost doubled during the Athens Olympics in 2004.

Mr Malthouse said he wanted mobile operators to cut off the numbers used on cards advertising prostitution, which are placed in phone boxes across London.

He said: “Nothing is more important to a pimp or trafficker than money. They don’t give a damn about the women and girls they abuse, they only care about the cash in their pocket. 

“So alongside the Met busting brothels and taking out the criminal networks that feed them, we want to cut their access to cash and punters starting by ridding London of prostitute cards in telephone boxes.

“In 2012 we want to be proud of our city as a glittering example to the world. But we need the mobile phone operators to show their commitment to fighting the abuse of women and help us.

“We want companies like Vodafone, Orange, O2, 3, Virgin and T-Mobile to make it difficult for the pimps and traffickers who advertise their mobile numbers on these cards to do business by barring them. “

However, claims that sporting events lead to an increase in human trafficking have been disputed.

The International Organisation for Migration published a study of the 2006 World Cup in Germany, and found that fears of an increase in human trafficking did not come true.

In a written answer in the House of Commons in July, Tessa Jowell, the Minister for the Olympics, said: “We are currently seeing no evidence to suggest an increase in the sex industry or human trafficking in relation to the Games.”

Mr Malthouse has asked the chief executives of the major mobile operators to attend a meeting at City Hall in October to discuss his proposals, alongside key members from the Metropolitan Police Service, Crown Prosecution Service, BT and women’s organisations across London.

London Mayor Boris Johnson made tackling prostitution and trafficking ahead of 2012 a key part of his violence against women strategy, called The Way Forward, launched for consultation in April 2009.

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