A TELEVISION documentary is to chart the problem of teenage prostitution in East Lancashire.

The Panorama show, Teenage Sex for Sale,' will look at the way police and community groups have tried to combat young girls being forced into selling themselves after being groomed by older men.

The problem of sexual grooming was first highl-ighted by the Lancashire Telegraph in 2006, when we launched our Keep Them Safe Campaign.

It aims to raise awareness of the problem of local girls who are befriended by predominantly Asian groups of men, who shower them with gifts and attention then give the youngsters drink and drugs. The teens are then forced to perform sex acts in return - sometimes with more than 10 men a night.

The documentary features the story of Zulfar Hussain, 46, from Blackburn, and Qaiser Naveed, 32, from Burnley. The pair were jailed in August 2007 for five years and eight months for "exploiting" vulnerable under-16s, having taken girls away from the legal control of social services. It also looks at the work being done by Blackburn's Engage team - a group formed by the police, council, the Lancashire Safeguarding Children's board and other young people's organisations.

The team track down offenders and offer support and protection to young victims and their families.

Matthew Hill, assistant producer of the Panorama programme, said: "We want-ed to do this documentary because of the scale of the problem. Home Office figures suggest there are over 5,000 children in prostitution in the UK. We wanted to highlight the issue because it is more complex and sinister than people imagine."

The documentary will air on Thursday at 10.35pm on BBC1.

l Victims can call the Engage team on 01254 267790 for support and advice.