YOUNG people in East Lancashire are feeling pressured into having intercourse for the first time by what they see on television according to sex advisers.

Staff at the Brook sex advice centre in Blackburn believe raunchy soap opera storylines and advertising were the main reasons for local young people believing they should have already have had sex by 16.

The Darwen Street centre had almost 2,000 more appointments with young people in 2000/01 than the previous year, bringing the number to 7,388, compared with 5,610 in 1999/2000.

But centre manager Ann Crichton said the figures did not mean more young people were having sex -- just more thought they should be.

She said: "I don't think the figures reflect the fact that more young people are having sex. These days young people are under more pressure, from sexually explicit advertising and television. If you watch television you could be forgiven for thinking everyone is having sex all the time."

She added that there was also a misconception that young people were well informed. Many still did not know basic facts.

She said: "It still varies widely. There are still an awful lot of young people who don't know enough about how their bodies work."

At Burnley, where the Brook centre moved premises to Bank Parade during the year, client numbers were slightly down to 4,116 from 4,255. But staff dealt with 1,045 new clients, of which a third were under 16.

A quarter of the people Blackburn staff saw were under 16, with the youngest aged 12.

A spokesman for Brook centres nationally said: "We clearly live in an overtly sexual society and it is often very hard for young people to know what to do when they don't know all the facts."

The Blackburn centre also saw 222 pregnant women during the year, 133 of which visited the centre already pregnant. Ninety opted for terminations and the rest were given advice by a public health midwife.

The service also appointed a new outreach worker for men to try and attract more boys in for advice, as only 10 per cent of clients during the year were male. The Brook service has a freephone number for advice on 0800 0185 023.