A CLAMPDOWN on alcohol-fuelled anti-social behaviour resulted in a number of young people having booze seized and off-licences targeted for illicit sales.

Operation Staysafe saw a variety of teams scouring the streets and known hotspots of Darlington looking for young people causing a nuisance.

Members of Darlington Borough Council's community safety team joined forces with Durham Police, staff from the licensing and trading standards team as well as people from social services, the YMCA and SWITCH, a young person’s drug and alcohol service.

The initiative saw patrols targeting parks, the town centre and the Denes, in a bid to tackle alcohol-related youth nuisance and to identify and support vulnerable youngsters.

Inspector Chris Knox, Darlington Neighbourhood Police Inspector, said: “Staysafe operations are about tackling youth related nuisance fuelled by the consumption of alcohol, which often places young people in vulnerable situations. The operations are designed to identify groups of young people and make them safe.

“As part of the operation we also look at identifying those premises which have supplied the youths with alcohol and speaking to the parents of youths identified to inform them of their children’s activities.

“This is an opportune time to ask parents if they know where their children are and who they are with, and also to warn them about supplying their children with alcohol and the dangers they could be placing them as a result.”

Some of the young people were taken to a place of safety and several bottles/cans of alcohol were confiscated from groups of young people during Friday's operation.

Trading Standards and Licensing made several visits to off-licences and seized 30 boxes of counterfeit cigarettes from one premises.

Graham Hall, Darlington Borough Council’s head of community safety, said: “We work closely with Durham Police and other partners in tackling anti-social behaviour and this was one of a series of mutli-agency operations planned to target youth alcohol-related nuisance, which also aims to remove vulnerable young people from the streets.

“Anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated and we will continue to work with partners to ensure Darlington is a safe place for residents and visitors.”

  • Residents can report issues about anti-social behaviour to the local authority on 01325-406999, out of hours calls are automatically transferred to the CCTV team, or Durham Police on 101.