VIOLENT crime in Accrington town centre has been reduced by about 40 per cent since the introduction of an on-street drinking ban.

Today police hailed the Crystal Clear campaign, introduced to the town last month, a success and said they hoped to build on this.

The ban came into force after new legislation was passed by Hyndburn Borough Council in a bid to reduce violent crime -- which includes woundings, assaults, public disorder and police assault -- and in particular alcohol-related offences.

Last August there were 24 records of violent crime and six glass or bottle related incidents.

This month there have been 14 incidents of violent crime and none with glasses or bottles.

PS Mark Porter of Accrington police said: "Since the launch of the Crystal Clear Campaign, we have seen a significant reduction in the violent crime in the town centre.

"For the first two weeks we used the promotional stuff for the campaign and highlighted the problems which are caused by people taking bottles out into the streets.

"People were warned and educated about the new legislation in that period but since then if offences were being committed we were to use the legislation and arresting people.

"To date we have not had to arrest anybody. If there has been a situation where someone has had a bottle or glass, they have listened to us and obliged."

The new legislation gives police the power to arrest anyone who refuses to relinquish opened containers of alcohol while in the no-alcohol zone.

A similar scheme in Blackburn has met with criticism after it failed to stop drinkers congregating on the Boulevard and creating disturbances.

PS Porter said the restriction was also being observed in the Broadway area of the town which had previously generated a lot of complaints about daytime drinkers.

He said: "Blackburn has had problems on the Boulevard with daytime drinkers but here they have been very co-operative with us.

"They do still drink outdoors but they are not causing the problems in the town centre.

"We will continue to monitor the situation and if we get complaints then the area bounded by the ban can be altered. although there are no plans to do that at this stage.

"For now things are looking up for the town centre and we hope to build on this with other initiatives."