WHITEFIELD mother Edwina Veeder is spearheading a North-west campaign to avert drink-drive tragedies, following the death of her 21-year-old daughter as she walked home from a Christmas party.

At a hard-hitting launch by road safety charity Brake, Mrs Veeder poured a glass of fake blood down the drain to symbolise the waste of a life.

The gruesome image was all too poignant for Mrs Veeder whose daughter Alexandra was killed by a drink-driver in Nottingham four years ago. She believes a zero-tolerance policy to drink-driving should be adopted.

A promising photography student, Alex, of Ringley Drive, Whitefield, was in her second year at Nottingham Trent University. She had enjoyed an end-of-term party and was walking home with friend Robert Bradley (20) when the pair were hit and killed by a car driven by Gursharan Singh Panesar.

Panesar was driving the wrong way down a one-way street when he mounted the pavement. He was later found to be three times over the drink-drive limit and was subsequently jailed for seven years, later reduced to six years on appeal. He was released on parole in April.

Mrs Veeder said: "I think the fact that he is free is disgusting when our family is serving a life sentence for what he did to Alex. Drinking and driving devastates lives.

"Getting behind the wheel after drinking even small amounts of alcohol can lead to a fatal crash. I urge anyone who thinks drinking and driving is okay to think of the traumatic loss that bereaved families suffer. The message to drivers is simple - don't drink and drive. Not a drop."

Mrs Veeder, who works with children with special needs, said the only way to get the message across was to have zero tolerance when it came to drinking and driving.

She said: "Not everybody is aware of what the legal drink-drive limit is and each persons tolerance of alcohol is different. The judicial system alone is not a deterrent. Everybody knows you have to wear a seat belt in a car and if you dont you are breaking the law. It should be the same with drink-driving. The only way is to have zero tolerance."

Since Alex's death, Mrs Veeder has found strength from campaigning for tougher sentences and appealing to people to avoid drinking and driving but this year she admitted she hesitated before stepping into the public arena once again.

Fighting back tears, she said: "I wasn't sure whether I should do it again this year but my daughter Laura, Alex's twin sister, encouraged me to do it. So I am doing it for her. It is always a struggle at this time of year, Christmas is approaching and the anniversary of Alex's death is December 16.

"My older daughter Leanne got married in July and that was hard. I get very angry at those times because Alex should have been there, dancing on the dance floor."

The anti drink-driving campaign was launched on Wednesday as part of Road Safety Week (Nov 8-14) after Great Britain last year recorded the highest drink-drive death rate since 1996.

In 2003, 560 people were killed 10 more than the year before and 2,580 seriously injured.

A Brake spokesman said: "We did a survey among young people aged between 15 and 25 and found that 27 per cent admitted to having drunk and driven. Many of those didnt even have a licence. The survey showed that a new generation of drink drivers were identified as a significant cause to the rising casualty figures."