TWO East Lancashire MPs have joined forces to demand that landlords should be punished for allowing customers to leave their pubs with glasses and bottles of booze in their hands.

Burnley MP Peter Pike raised the issue with Culture Minister Richard Caborn in the Commons during a discussion on the new Licensing Act.

This will allow pubs much greater flexibility over opening hours -- even giving some city centre pubs the right to stay open 24 hours.

But Labour MP Mr Pike wants to ensure that the new freedoms are linked to new duties.

He told the Commons that although a new ban on open-air drinking in the centre of Burnley and Padiham had improved things, there was still a problem. Elsewhere in East Lancashire there are similar bans in Blackburn, Accrington, Whalley, Clitheroe and Sabden.

Mr Pike said: "It's not just people staggering about drunk, but bottles and glasses can be weapons and they dump them everywhere -- on doorsteps, pavement kerbs and windowsills.

"They are an unsightly nuisance.

"The Licensing Authority should take this into account when deciding what hours a pub, or club, can open."

Ribble Valley Tory Nigel Evans went further: "I agree with Peter there is a real problem even with the town centre outdoor drinking bans.

"But the Licensing Authority should make clear that if this is allowed to take place, they will take the landlord's licence away, or close the pub."