THURROCK Council has turned again to a controversial security firm in a bid to find an enforcement officer who can clamp down on breaches of social distance guidance in the borough.

The role, which is paid £11 an hour. It is described as a 'Flexible Community Support Officer' and the job advertisement by private security firm Kingdom Service Group - which also supplies Thurrock with officers to enforce anti-littering regulations - says: "This assignment will be helping the council, patrolling the streets, park and other areas around the borough making sure that people are social distancing."

Kingdom says whoever gets the role needs to have a "calm and assertive manner with the ability to deal professional and diplomatically with people from all backgrounds" as well as a "resilient character, as some interaction with the offenders, can occasionally be confrontational."

Applicants also need the "ability to defuse hostile situations professionally".

While Kingdom has had a contract with Thurrock for some time, it has been sacked from operating on behalf of a number of other local authorities because of its allegedly unscrupulous practices.

Among them was Plymouth, whose city council to kicked out Kingdom for being 'unethical' in their approach to keeping streets clean. Grimsby, Liverpool and Gwynedd council in Wales are among other authorities who have dumped Kingdom, saying their officers reportedly followed people around and too much focus was being put on stinging people who drop cigarettes and generating fines as opposed to solving wider environmental issues.

Full details about the new Thurrock job - and how to apply - can be found here.