A SUMMER drink-drive campaign has been hailed a success by Lancashire police, despite 545 people testing positive in just six weeks.

They represent almost nine per cent of the 6,086 motorists stopped - a dramatic improvement on last year when 16 per cent of those stopped were over the limit.

The campaign started in July and Lancashire Constabulary decided to introduce their new force policy of breath testing all drivers involved in accidents.

This meant more people were breathalysed than the year before when just 2,343 people gave samples.

Inspector Peter Stas, the man in charge of the seasonal clampdown, said the number of people prepared to flout the law did seem to be on the decrease: "Although we carried out nearly three times as many tests as last year, the percentage of drink-drivers has actually fallen.

"Although I am encouraged that the message seems to be getting through to the public in general, I am still concerned about the hard-core of motorists who continue to ignore our advice.

"Those people will now have to face the full force of the law as they are dealt with by the courts," he added.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.