A BURY off-licence chain is spearheading a crackdown on under-age drinkers.

Bargain Booze, which has outlets throughout the borough, is now offering a £200 reward to help combat the problem.

The reward is offered to those who give information which leads to the conviction of adults who are purchasing alcohol and then supplying it to people under the age of 18.

Bargain Booze already has a highly developed and well-structured staff training package that aims to ensure that stores do not sell alcohol to people directly under the legal age limit.

Staff are well trained in ways to recognise that someone is under-age and to ask for identification without causing offence.

However, the biggest problems that off-licences face is people over the legal age purchasing alcohol on behalf of minors.

"It's a very difficult problem to address," says Rick Laithwaite, national licensing manager for Bargain Booze. "But we are keen to address it and we feel that this reward scheme goes some way to doing just that.

"The problem seems to be not just that adults are buying for teenagers or kids, but also that the adults are very often unaware that they are committing an offence by doing this. And it's an offence that carries with it a maximum fine of £1,000."

Bargain Booze hope the reward scheme, which is backed by the police, will raise awareness of what they term is "a very real problem" and highlight to adults who purchase alcohol on behalf of those under-age that they are committing an offence.

The company hope that if the initiative succeeds in both these objectives, then not only will it reduce the incidence of under-age drinking but also cut down associated youth nuisance problems.

Sergeant John Shaw, of Bury Police, said: "We certainly encourage schemes like this that will make people a bit more responsible. Adults who buy drink for those under-age probably don't realise the damage they're doing."

He added: "Initially, this might start as youths causing annoyance. But it could soon escalate and lead to public disorder and possibly criminal damage as well as associated offences. This is a scheme which we hope will be taken very seriously."