POLICE today pledged to crack down on gangs of youths who intimidate older folk and get drunk in Darwen town centre.

Gangs of up to 30 youths aged 12 to 15 have been roaming the The Circus area on evenings throughout the past two weeks, causing trouble to shopkeepers, bus drivers and intimidating others. One bus driver spoke of an attack by the gang on a colleague.

Sgt Anne Scott, of Darwen police, said her officers have been taking steps to stop the problem. But she said it was ultimately up to parents to take responsibility and ensure their children were occupied and not causing trouble.

Measures the police are currently taking include:

Issuing youth referral forms - allowing police to write directly to parents about their child's behaviour.

Taking drunken teenagers home to their parents.

Confiscating alcohol.

Telling parents face-to-face about the bad behaviour of their children.

More patrols by officers in uniform.

Sgt Scott said: "I would say to these kids, don't come to the town centre in large groups, find something else to do and something more productive. We will take a very tough line with any alcohol usage, public order problems or damage incidents.

"A lot of these kids have chosen the town centre as they have probably been moved on from other areas in the town. To older residents and other town centre users it can be intimidating."

Sgt Scott said the problem had improved over the past two weeks with town centre community beat officer PC Shelley Lancett monitoring the situation.

Bill Waller, a bus driver in Darwen, said: "I drove my bus into Darwen Circus at 11pm on Friday night to see 20 to 30 youths walking in a gang. They tried to do the usual attack on my bus but I was lucky to get a green light.

"But my fellow colleague driving the bus 20 minutes behind had the doors opened and bonnet opened on his bus."

The trouble comes in the wake of complaints about gangs of youths congregating in and around Blackburn shopping centre.