STANDING in minus 4 degrees wearing only a skirt and cropped jacket, a prostitute touted for trade huddled under a bus-stop style shelter.
Around the corner, a girl wearing tight black wet-look leggings, gets out of her car and waves at a John smiling as she walks through the snow towards his vehicle. The area is covered with graffiti and has limited light, making it feel seedy, but these girls are working legally in a special area created by the Zurich government which has security and sexual health services on site.
Girls who are working leave their bags in the bus-stop style shelters, which only offer protection from the wind on two sides. Girls resorted to blankets and hot drinks in an attempt to keep warm. Others opted to sit in the cars and emerge when they saw another vehicle coming towards them. It was easy to spot if a girl had been chosen, not just from the car in the drive-thru slot, but her bag would be abandoned in the shelter.
Flora Dora, the council funded organisation that runs the site, has been around since the s and originally worked with Heroin addicts that plagued the city. Around 10 girls work out of the open-air facility each night, and they tend to be residents of the European Union which means they can work in Zurich for up to 90 days a year. When The Sun visited in January, Johns were braving a snowstorm and minus 4-degree temperatures to visit their chosen girl.
Despite authorities declaring it a success, it has failed to curb the growing illegal prostitution run by violent traffickers. Flora Dora, who care for the sex boxes and the girls who work there, also have a team who work out here in an attempt to combat human trafficking which takes place.
