A CONTROVERSIAL tourbus heading to the region to film young women stripping and having sex in public must be banned, MPs demanded last night.

The Home Office was urged to step in only weeks before the notorious Girls Gone Wild show, run by a US adult channel, is due to visit British towns and cities for the first time.

The tourbus has long been controversial in the US for approaching young women – often while they are drunk – and encouraging them to expose themselves and perform sex acts on camera.

Now a group of North-East MPs, led by Gateshead’s Ian Mearns, has called on Home Secretary Teresa May to explore whether the filming can be banned.

They have tabled a parliamentary motion, which states that the founder of the Mantra Films production company – Californian millionaire Joe Francis – was “jailed after pleading no contest to charges of child abuse and prostitution”.

Mr Mearns said: “I want the Home Office to see if this company can be prevented from coming into the country.

This is not in the best interests of young people.”

Mantra Films announced in January that it planned to film Girls Gone Wild in the UK this month, inviting fans to suggest towns and cities in an online poll.

It is not clear whether an itinerary has been agreed, but Mr Mearns said he was sure that Newcastle – with its reputation as a party city – would be on the list.

The other North-East MPs who have signed the motion, which appears on the Commons order paper, are Pat Glass (Durham North West), Grahame Morris (Easington) and Mary Glindon (Tyneside North).

It says the tourbus “approaches young women, many of them intoxicated, in public places, and encourages them to expose their breasts, simulate sex acts and have sex on camera in exchange for Girls Gone Wild merchandise”.

Ms Glass said: “There is a real concern that this American company is making money out of putting young women in danger and doing it in the name of entertainment.

“And I think that wherever that is – in London or making its way to the North-East – then we should be safeguarding against that.

“We don’t want these people on our streets and placing our young girls in danger.

“Life is tough for young girls these days and there is far to much access to things like alcohol at too young an age, and this kind of thing just makes it worse.”

The Northern Echo attempted to contact Mantra Films, in California, but received no reply before the paper went