THE government is planning to give the police powers to shut down rowdy pubs and issue on-the-spot fines to troublemakers in a bid to crackdown on Britain's so-called yob culture.

Despite the fact that East Lancashire suffers from more than the average number of public disorder and anti-social behaviour crimes, publicans have condemned the plans.

However, people who have been the victims of yobs say it's about time something was done. DAVID HIGGERSON reports.

SEAN FLETCHER'S parents believe a proposed crackdown on yobs -- in whatever form it finally takes -- can only be a good thing.

Their opinions aren't that surprising considering their 21-year-old son now risks losing sight in one eye after becoming a victim of a yob attack in Blackburn town centre.

Last month, Blackburn College student Sean, of Highfield Street, Haslingden, was punched in the face as he handed out leaflets for the pub in Blackburn.

He is one of hundreds of victims of yob-related incidents -- which include minor offences such as criminal damage and anti-social behaviour to the more serious crimes such as knifings, glassings and worse -- which the Government is determined to crack down on.

East Lancashire's record for these crimes is the worst in the county, with Eastern Division recording 21,628 crimes in the year to March and Pennine Division dealing with 20,010.

Violent crimes are also high, with 2,249 and 2,253 being recorded by each division respectively.

They are crimes which Tony Blair hopes he will be able to reduce with new legislation.

Despite plans to fine yobs £100 on the spot being rubbished by police chiefs, the interest shown by the Government has been welcomed. The police favour a fixed penalty system, which would save them time and avoid the problems of getting drunk yobs to a cashpoint. Sean's mother Caroline, a staff nurse, said: "Anything which can done to prevent these attacks has to be welcomed. Hopefully, it will mean yobbish behaviour is nipped in the bud before it gets out of control and people thinking punching people for no reason is perfectly acceptable."

She added: "Some people have been allowed to get away with too much for too long and they don't fell any backlash for their actions. That is the problem."

Brennan Clemance has also been on the wrong end of violence by thugs.

While on holiday in Corfu last year Brennan, then 18, was glassed outside a pub by a British thug who thought he was "looking at his girlfriend." He needed hundreds of stitches to his chest, face, head and neck and has lost his good looks for ever. No-one has been prosecuted for the attack yet, although Home Secretary Jack Straw has stepped in to help the family in their quest for justice.

Even though the attack happened abroad, Brennan's mum Linda believes that if the attacker had been brought up in a culture which clamped down on thuggery, the incident might not have happened.

Linda, of Surrey Road, Blackburn, said: "People seem to think they can get away with anything.

"If yobbish actions were stamped down on then hopefully people wouldn't get to the stage where they think it perfectly acceptable to glass people."

It isn't just the English yob in Corfu who has made Brennan's life a misery.

Linda added: "He is now challenged to fights every time he goes out because people see his scars and think he is a hard man.

"Those sort of yobs need clamping down on until they start to behave like the rest of us."

Brennan simply said: "They have ruined my life."

Criminal psychologist Peter Marsh, of the Social Issues Research Centre, Oxford and an expert on yob and group behaviour, said: "These are just populist tactics which will come a cropper. "Youth and loutish problems have been going on since Aristotle's time and will continue. There is very little you can do to stop it.

"At the end of the day, the people involved derive pleasure from what they're doing. That is why it is so hard to stop."

Local police aren't sure what to make of the proposals, which appeared on the political agenda following the outrageous behaviour of English fans during Euro 2000.

Chief Inspector Andy Pratt, from Eastern Division, which covers Blackburn, Darwen, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley, said: "We can do things to prevent these crimes already. I feel the proposals being banded about need a lot of detailed discussion before they are made law." Peter Britcliffe, the leader of Hyndburn Council, is more upbeat about the plans.

He believes they will help to rid towns like Accrington of the young louts who hang around in the town centre during the day annoying shoppers, as well as the trouble-making drinkers who loiter in most East Lancashire towns at night.

Coun Britcliffe said: "We must welcome plans like this because they will serve to make our towns safer. We have had problems here which the police have cracked down on but extra powers would help. If people get away with small things they begin to think more serious crimes are acceptable too."

Other plans being considered by the Government include giving police powers to shut down pubs that appear to condone violent, loutish behaviour.

Not surprisingly, the idea hasn't gone down very well among local landlords.

Geoff Sutcliffe, chairman of the Licence Victuallers' Association, said: "If the trouble is on the street, who is to say the nearby pub is to blame? Even if they say they frequent one pub and it is closed down, they will only move on to another one."