Summertime booze blitz hailed success

MORE than 100 litres of booze was removed from Oldham’s streets in a two-month crackdown on teenage drinking.

Children’s Minister Dawn Primarolo said 140 litres of alcohol were confiscated from Oldham youngsters between July and September.

In addition, 60 licensed premises across the borough were visited as part of the test purchasing operations which resulted in five failures.

Six Oldham youngsters were also referred to support services to tackle their drinking and 23 local parents spoken to about their child’s boozy behaviour.

Nationally, the £1.4 million campaign also saw more than 3,000 actions taken against children consuming alcohol — or attempting to — in public, more than 1,800 parents informed and more than 18,000 young people directed to more “positive” activities by street teams.

In June, Children’s Secretary Ed Balls said Oldham, along with other youth crime priority areas, would be given a share of extra cash to help them clamp down specifically on teenage binge-drinking in the summer months.

Home Office Minister Alan Campbell said: “Alcohol is often at the root of youth crime. The drink taken out of the hands of teenagers on the streets during this successful campaign undoubtedly represents many incidents of crime and anti-social behaviour that have been prevented across the country over the summer.

“This crackdown complements the excellent on-going work of the £100 million Youth Crime Action Plan. Through YCAP we are preventing young people becoming involved in crime, taking swift action where it does happen and enforcing robust punishments where behaviour is repeated and unacceptable.”