LET us not get carried away by the fact that Swindon police will soon have the power to slap £80 fixed penalty fines on yobs whose public order offences make other people's lives a misery.

It sounds like a good idea. But it can work only if the boys and girls in blue can catch the offenders.

If having done so they can be sure the hooligans have given their correct names and addresses.

And if the yobs have the cash to pay.

In view of the reactions of the average bottle-throwing, bus shelter-smashing lout there could be little scope for optimism.