'We've tackled Counterfeit Street, now we're going to clean up the Gardens'

TOP COP VOWS TO TARGET CITY CENTRE HOTSPOT WITH 'VIM AND VIGOUR'

- STEPHEN TOPPING

IT'S the steadfast policing operation that has transformed the face of Britain's 'counterfeit capital' in less than a year.

Now, Greater Manchester's top cop is promising a similar effort to 'clean up' another of the city's most notorious spots.

Chief Constable Stephen Watson says Operation Vulcan will target Piccadilly Gardens 'in a matter of weeks. It's the same operation which launched as a crackdown on organised crime and the counterfeit trade in Strangeways and Cheetham Hill.

The Greater Manchester Police boss told BBC Radio Manchester yesterday that Vulcan had led to 215 counterfeit stores being shut down, with the operation 'literally ripping out tens of millions of pounds from organised crime.

Now, he is promising police will target Piccadilly Gardens with 'vim and vigour' ahead of the area's regeneration.

"I think Piccadilly Gardens is not the gateway to Manchester that any of us want," he told the Mike Sweeney programme.