Keeping yourself safe

In this business whilst you can have some wonderful experiences, and meet some wonderful people I'm afraid that it also has to be remembered that it isn't all wine and roses. I would hate the idea that any new escort coming into this industry would be scared off by the following, but to fall back on an old adage, forewarned is forearmed.

During the summer of 2006, for example, there were a spate of robberies, some of them armed. These robbers made it a practice to read the Ladies Announcements and the Tour Board on Punternet and gleaned any information on escorts who toured, especially those that did so on their own. There also have been robberies on sex parties. In light of all this, as an experienced escort, I can offer some advice when touring.

  • If you can, find a buddy that you get along with and advertise in pairs or more. Not only are there safety in numbers, it can cut the cost of touring in half, therefore making yourself a bigger profit. If you choose a hotel, make sure the rooms are as close as possible together; either next door to each other or across the hallway. If you use a serviced apartment, leave some sort of background sound on (the telly or the stereo) in the front room with the door closed, and tell your customer that your friend is in there.
  • If you do have to tour on your own, try to find a hotel that has good security, i.e. CCTV cameras at the entrance of the hotel itself, and in the corridors. It may be worth checking out the hotel before your visit, just to find out what their security is like. Obviously you'd rather not bring any undue attention to yourself, but I would rather you be safe than sorry.
  • Again, if you tour on your own, you don't have to make it known. You can use the above information in points one and two to at least give the illusion that you are accompanied by somebody else. If a customer asks for that person, tell them that they've nipped out and will be back momentarily.
  • A tour can be quite busy. Try your best to leave time inbetween appointments to nip down to the bank and deposit your wages. It doesn't matter if you do it 2 or 3 times during that day. Leave a few quid in your purse for food, taxis, and other little emergencies. But try your best not to leave huge amounts of cash in your hotel room/apartment. And when customers do call to confirm, tell them that you're running a few minutes late because you're just nipping down to the bank to make a deposit. Also before you do go off on tour, make sure you have the branch address of your bank, so you know exactly where it is whilst you're away, and you don't have to traipse the streets trying to find it.
  • If somebody calls you in the morning and wants to make a booking towards the end of the day, and asks you how busy you've been, be wary. This is what happened to a colleague of mine and I think her quick thinking saved her. Tell anybody who asks that you've had a quiet day, and that he'd be either the second or only customer of the day. He probably wouldn't consider you as much of a target and not turn up.

A lot of this info applies to all escorts really, especially those independents working on their own. Stay safe and be vigilant ladies.

Here are some useful links if you've been a victim of a robbery or assault:

  • met.police.uk/ is a good site in that it has a list of numbers in the Greater London borough that will take you directly to a page with your local police listings.
  • It also has a link to crimestoppers-uk.org/ who have in the past been very helpful to us in this industry.

Please remember that being an independent escort is legal. You have every right to report anything that may have happened to you, and you're safe in the knowledge that any information you give to Crimestoppers is in the strictest of confidence. Robbers depend on the stigma still attached to this industry, and will make the assumption that you will not want to go to the police. Crimestoppers are not judgemental and won't look down at their nose at you. And I'm happy to say that more and more the police are changing their attitudes towards our work and realise that we do need their protection as much as anybody else.