A CRACKDOWN to stop children as young as 10 from drinking alcohol has been launched.

Over the last few weeks groups of more than 50 young people, both boys and girls, aged between about 10 and 19, have been congregating at the bottom of Longboat Lane in Stourport on Friday evenings. On one night there were an estimated 80 to 90 youngsters.

Police launched Operation Metro to tackle the problem, and are seizing and pouring away the alcohol.

PC Andy Brooks-Davies said: "We want to ask parents where their children are on a Friday evening and what sort of state they are coming home in."

"It is possible these youngsters are saying they are at a friend's house and their parents genuinely don't know what they are up to."

On one occasion about 30 cans of lager were seized from a 16-year-old boy.

"We want to emphasise that it is not just under-age youngsters we can seize alcohol from," said PC Brooks-Davies. "We can also take it from over-18s if they are in the company of under-18s."

Off-licence staff are being urged not to sell alcohol to under 21s, if they suspect it is being bought for under 18s.