THE colourful language thrown at riot police may not have been too realistic - "I only wanted a cup of tea" being the most feeble - but otherwise it was the authentic riot experience.

Petrol bombs exploded, bricks rained down and rioters mocked when their missiles hit their target during an exercise yesterday.

In a setting resembling an episode of The Bill, Durham Police's Police Support Unit were put through their paces by officers wearing civvies at a derelict warehouse on the edge of Durham City - their temporary home for mocked-up mayhem.

For 30 minutes, the men and women of the riot squad were faced with what senior officers described as "worse than they would be normally expected to deal with".

This included officers being engulfed in flames from a well-aimed petrol bomb, and a baseball bat-wielding lunatic intent on attacking as many officers as possible - a test labelled the Angry Person Syndrome.

Further exercises had police sheltering behind their shields as they inched up a grotty stairwell under a hail of bricks and verbal abuse.

It was all in a day's work for the 180 officers chosen for riot training, said Inspector Frank Kirby, who presided over the controlled mayhem from a safe distance.

Insp Kirby, support services training manager, said that despite a traditional lack of major riot incidents in County Durham, every force needed a riot team, not least to be able to help out other forces in times of need.

He said: "We are training officers to be able to deal with petrol bombs, brick-throwing and large crowds - all of which we encountered when we helped out West Yorkshire Police in Bradford recently.

"In Durham, past history has proved this kind of incident to be unlikely, but we are committed to supplying people to other forces from time to time."

He added: "In Bradford we faced what we recreated today - for four or five nights."

And just in case any of the officers, clad in black overalls, imposing helmets and shields, enjoyed themselves too much, he added: "Here it is interesting, exciting and fun, but when you're looking at a crowd of five or six hundred it has an entirely different impact.