WE trust it's no coincidence that, as the festive season moves towards its peak, would-be drunks and troublemakers in Worcester's pubs and clubs have received a tough behave-or-be-banned warning.

You may be a reveller who accepts trouble as part of the drinking culture and hones the instinct to stay out of the way.

Or you may be someone whose choice of watering hole's dictated by the desire to avoid the risk entirely.

Whichever, Worcester's new city-wide radio link is as good news for you as it is bad for those misguided enough to believe that yobbery and inebriation is acceptable.

The new measure, we hope, is some step from prompting the ridiculous civil liberties opposition which have greeted other measures aimed at preventing crime and disorder.

Perish the thought that anyone thinks of defending the right of troublemakers to do as they wish, rather than have an alternative Big Brother watching them.

Readers may recall the effects of the early warning systems adopted by traders in Worcester and Droitwich which sent shoplifters packing in the late 90s. The fear then was that the radio network would simply move the problem on.

Maybe. But our view then was that what was working in Worcester and Droitwich could work elsewhere. The same is true of Club Net.

Having proved once again that prevention is better than cure, it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that the entire county could be covered - and comforted - by a defiant ring of radio-linked businesses and communities.

Above all, the notion of mindless troublemakers being run out of town by a posse of resolute club and pub owners is rewarding in itself.

"If you're coming to steal, you'll probably be caught" was the message traders sent some years ago. Now we can say the same about trouble.