PARENTS in the Vale have been receiving letters from police warning them their children might be causing a public nuisance while out of their sight.

The letters have been despatched by West Mercia Constabulary as part of the force's Anti Social Behaviour Order policy, which is intended to crack down on public nuisance and disorder.

The parents of youngsters targeted are among 62 recipients of the letters - the first stage of the process - in the Evesham and Pershore areas, where 45 and 17 respectively have been sent.

In 35 other instances in Evesham more informal advice has been given, with police asking for public support in tackling the problem.

The corresponding figure for Pershore is four.

Far fewer cases of sterner action, in the forms of a personal visit by police with a written statement of intent or starting formal consultation to consider stronger options, such as applications to magistrates for an Anti Social Behaviour Order, have been taken.

The figures for those stages of the process in Evesham are six and two respectively and four and three in Pershore.

In just in one case - in the Pershore area - was an order issued.

The statistics were reported to members of the South Worcestershire Community Policing Board, which met at Evesham Community Contact Centre recently.

The report, presented to board members by Sgt Chris Allen, also revealed that across the force's south Worcestershire area, which includes the Worcester and Malvern Hills districts, public nuisance incidents had fallen dramatically in a year.

There were 4,159 in 2002, compared with 5,079 in 2001.

Instances of disorder in public places, however, had shot up from 2,148 in 2001 to 2,758 the following year.

Instances of domestic violence were down, from 164 to 145, although domestic disputes were up, from 1,959 to 2,015.