POLICE are trying to stamp out a rise in underage drinking in Accrington and Oswaldtwistle.

Officers have begun to target the young drinkers in a new operation, known as Extant, and will be out in force on Friday nights.

Along with Operation Extant, police community beat officers have been working with trading standards officers and the youth offending team to crack down on the sale of alcohol to youngsters.

Now they are urging the public not to give in to teenagers asking for drinks.

Inspector Julian Platt, of Accrington police, said: "It's a culture of youths binge-drinking that we are trying to limit. In conjunction with this we have also done licensing operations but in our experience the licensing operations by and large confirm that we have got some quite responsible licensees."

He said it was an offence for people to buy alcohol for under-18s hanging around outside off-licences.

A number of trouble spots have been highlighted by the police, including Spring Street, Elizabeth Street and Fairfield Street, Accrington, and Rhyddings Park, Heron Way and Heys Lane, Oswaldtwistle.

The operation will run for a number of weeks, and will address drink-related crimes including theft and damage as well as the problem of bingeing teens.

Oswaldtwistle councillor Brian Walmsley welcomed the crackdown, saying: "For some reason or another we seem to get gangs of youngsters, and they're not just from Oswaldtwistle."