ANGRY shopkeepers in Worcester are demanding something is done about vagrants, drug takers and drunks who sleep in their doorways.

Forty businesses in the Cornmarket, Mealcheapen Street and New Street areas have signed the petition calling for the city council to take action.

Sarah Wood, the director of Worcester Furniture Exhibition centre in the Cornmarket, was the driving force behind the petition, presented to the council's senior environmental health officer for pollution, Bill Saville, on Tuesday.

"We've had a problem with vagrants, drunks and drug takers over the last 12 or 18 months," she said. "They sleep in our doorway and use it as a toilet."

Her husband David, managing director of the small family business, said he had to clean the porch of urine, vomit and human excrement almost every morning.

The couple say they have also seen discarded needles lying around, and the state of the streets is not only a health risk but a deterrent to shoppers.

"This is a Grade II Listed building and we'll have to pay £2,000 and get planning permission to put gates across the porch," said Mrs Wood.

Mrs Wood said the vagrancy problem could also cause problems for the city's prestigious Christmas market.

"Next week, 100,000 visitors will come to Worcester and what are they going to think when they see this?" she said.

"We want to work with the council. We want them to be proactive. We're paying £25,000 in business rates and what are we getting for our money?"

Neil Hunter, owner of Clockwatchers, Mealcheapen Street, said it had been a problem for two years.

The yard behind the caf has been described as being like "cardboard city."

Chris Ashcroft, manager of St Paul's Hostel for the Homeless on Tallow Hill, said it was full and staff had to turn people away.

"There isn't a magic solution," said Mike Harrison, the council's head of operational services.

"I'm in no doubt this is a legitimate problem."

n Opinion: P6