It beggars belief to some - the number of beggars in Ormskirk.

And of course it begs the obvious question - what can be done about it?

Local Police are onto the problem; QLocal's Roger Blaxall took this picture of town centre bobby Mick Ginn questioning this man who sits between Aldi and Argos in the hope of getting a free meal - or some spare cash.

Our coverage comes in the wake of comments like this from one QLocal reader who contacted the newsdesk saying: "I have lived in Ormskirk area since the 70s, and think it has gone down quite a bit.

"I went today and nearly fell over the amount of people begging, or after my hard earned money, in one form or the other.

"There were seven in all within yards. I think it is a disgrace. What can be done about it?"

QLocal understands that not all of them are genuine beggars - according to police, some now travel in from Kirkby and Skem possibly viewing Ormskirk folk as a 'soft touch' as they beg outside Simply Food, Argos and Aldi.

Three of them live in tents on woodland behind the station car park but the others are thought to travel in by train and besides begging in Ormskirk raid the charity bins on Leyland Way and even show off their spoils on Facebook, boasting of how they can make up to £50 a day from selling on items which have been left in the charity shop bins.

It's a problem that's not going to go away soon by all accounts...