Ref. 12458/1GAZETTE & HERALD: POLICE seized more than 80 bottles and cans of alcohol from children as young as 14 on Friday night, as part of a new crackdown on under age drinking.

Police said they were shocked by the sheer volume of alcohol confiscated in just two hours in Chippenham town centre.

They will now be visiting the homes of the young drinkers in person or sending letters informing their parents that their children were caught in possession of alcohol.

"Special constables patrolling the town centre seized this sizeable amount of alcohol from children aged between 14 and 17," said Inspector Neil Bagnall.

"The haul ranges from cans of lager to alcopops and even bottles of wine and from the bags it came in, we can see that much of it has been bought in the town centre area.

"The key areas in which it was seized were behind Emery Gate car park and the St Andrew's churchyard area.

"Officers approached children who were clearly too young to buy or drink alcohol and under the Alcohol and Young Persons Act 1997, which was amended under the licensing act of 2003, we were able to confiscate it, take and record the children's details and then dispose of the alcohol."

Insp Bagnall said the new initiative, which is called Operation Confiscate, was the idea of PC Dave Castle from Chippenham Police Station and aims to crack down on under age drinking throughout the town.

"Measures taken by the police to reduce violent crime in the town have been showing results and this is an extension of this," he explained.

"We do not want under age children drinking in the town centre because it not only endangers their health and safety, but can also lead to criminal damage.

"We do not think they are buying it themselves it is probably being bought for them by adults.

"But we hope that by contacting their parents, whether by a personal visit to their home or by letter, we can dissuade them from this type of behaviour.

"I would imagine that a lot of these parents are going to be surprised and in some cases horrified to find out that their children have been out drinking."