CITIZEN Smith quite rightly points out in last week's Citizen that there is something fundamentally wrong with groups of 14 and 15-year-olds being found drunk in Lancaster parks at two o'clock in the morning.

Obviously these little sweethearts are beyond parental control, so perhaps it's time to seriously consider the implementation of curfews.

But then again, this is politically correct Britain (to a ridiculous degree) and the civil libbers lobby would howl at such a suggestion.

Perhaps something that I have seen implemented in other countries would work in Britain, whereby police officers encountering children on the streets at times when they should be at home would routinely contact their parents with a message to say they have found your son/daughter and they are OK - but because of the hour we have chosen to call you just to let you know.

The police deemed it to be a PR excercise inasmuch as it was performing a public service and it worked both in that context and to deliver to some parents a subtle message - imagine the impact of being awoken at 2am by a police officer.

But as I said before this is politically correct and civil libertarian Britain...

Roger Marsh, Morecambe.