A TEENAGER'S dream of becoming a policeman has turned sour after six months of alleged repeated harassment.

Since March, the eighteen-year-old has been stopped a total of 31 times, when driving his car within a ten mile radius of his home in Rainford.

Not once, his family claims, have the police found anything wrong, but still the young man alleges to have been asked to produce his documents six times, been personally searched four times, had his car searched on five occasions and been breathalysed four times.

He claims the police told him that a hole the size of a fifty pence piece, caused when a van backed into his car was a danger to the public. If it was not repaired within 14 days they would scrap the vehicle.

The young man's father said: "Would this happen in Brixton or Toxteth without an outcry and claims for compensation? I don't think so.

"I know the police sometimes have a difficult job to do and I did support them all the way but there is no excuse for lazy police work. Picking the easy target of the stereotypical car-driving youth does their credibility no good at all."

A spokesperson for Merseyside Police said: "We cannot comment on individual cases until we are in possession of the full details. As the man concerned has asked to remain anonymous we cannot verify this information."

The man's father added: "He once aspired to join the police force and I think he would have made a good bobby. He hates them now."