I have a new police borough commander in Merton and we hold regular meetings together. At one of these it transpired that a pay cheque shop in my borough was robbed with the culprit running off with a wad of bank notes.

The incident got me thinking about the increasing number of such outlets on our high streets today. The generic term for them is 'payday loan' shops. As the economy suffers so such shops blossom. As banks make it more difficult to borrow so more people turn to payday loan sharks.