MANY people won't want to believe that in Swindon teenage girls are turning to prostitution to finance a drug habit.

It's a thought which is so horrendous that it's likely to make the average parent's blood run cold. But according to drugs worker Glenys Armstrong it is happening.

And if we don't wake up to the seriousness of this situation now it's possible that this year Mrs Armstrong will find herself dealing with more than the six cases which she encountered last year.

The oldest of the girls she helped was 17, the youngest only 14.

Evil is the only word which is adequate to describe people who encourage young people like these into drug dependency and then coerce them into selling their young bodies in return for supplies of the substances on which they have become hooked.

We would be wrong to assume that all these young victims come from bad homes where parents don't care.

It's clear, however, that in the climate in which we now live all mums and dads must be vigilant.

We should be pushing for harsher penalties for the pushers and pimps who trap young people into addiction and degradation.

The punters who use these young girls must also not be allowed to get away with it.

The victims are the responsibility of all of us. It is up to us to protect them.

IT is a pity that because of its position in the middle of a residential area the 1,800-year-old Roman temple site at Abbey Meads is unlikely to become a regular tourist draw.

Nevertheless we shouldn't lose site of its major importance to Britain's heritage.

It would be a waste of an opportunity not to visit the site on National Archaeology Day, July 23, and take part in one of county archaeologist Roy Canham's guided tours.

The site is part of the nation's, as well as Swindon's, history and it could be a long time before we are offered another chance like this.