'Time should be called on our young drinkers' (From Warrington Guardian)

'Time should be called on our young drinkers'

POLICE are pleading with parents to take responsibility for troublesome children, as they try to call time on underage drinking.

Special patrols conducted as part of Operation Yellow Card last week seized 277 containers of alcohol from designated no drinking zones in Alsager and Congleton, mainly from teenagers.

Sgt Gareth Woods warned: "Until such times as parents stop providing their under-age children with alcohol and take more account of where their children are on Friday nights these problems will remain."

The zones were created to deter alcohol-related anti-social behaviour, which was impacting on the quality of life of nearby residents, but young people and adults continue to flout them.

Sgt Woods added: "Clearly the designated no drinking zones have been a huge success as they enable us to remove the alcohol from people in these areas before they drink it, which in turn moderates their behaviour to a certain degree."

Off licences are now coming under pressure to be vigilant and ask all youngsters for proof of age.

One Alsager shop is to be prosecuted after failing police and trading standards test traps and selling alcohol to a girl aged just 15, who had no form of identification.

Police are also developing new methods of tackling those who supply alcohol to teenagers.

During the Friday operation, police received a tip-off from a resident near the Hassall Road play area that alcohol had arrived via a motorist and was being drunk by youngsters.

When the car driver denied to police that he had supplied the cans to the younger children he was issued with a £50 litter ticket for the cans that were littering the floor nearby.