PUPILS playing truant will be given a police escort straight back to the classroom as education chiefs mount a pre-Christmas crackdown.

Patrol teams spotting skiving youngsters will alert squad cars by radio to have them frogmarched back to school.

In the past two years, more than a quarter of the 400 children stopped during sweeps in Bury had no valid reason for absence. Some were even accompanied by their parents.

Bury Council has successfully prosecuted 33 parents in the past year whose children were deemed persistent truants, and council officers have vowed to bring other regular offenders to court.

From Monday, education and police officers will tour Bury town centre and Metrolink services, known haunts of persistent absentees. Police patrols will also target other town centres across the borough.

The initiative, codenamed Operation Whiting, is part of police efforts to reduce anti-social behaviour and a Government attendance drive launched this week by Bury South MP Ivan Lewis.

Councillor Steve Perkins, executive member for lifelong learning said: "Children who do not attend are losing the advantage of their education and we need to do everything we can to get them back into school.

"It is important to get them back into school as quickly as possible and with the minimum of fuss.

"We hope that this high-profile approach will act as a reminder to parents and youngsters that Bury Council is totally committed to tackling truancy."

Alan Cogswell, principal education welfare officer, said: "One of our biggest concerns is the number of pupils whose absence is condoned by their parents.

"Parents have a clear responsibility to ensure the regular attendance of their children and we will take whatever action necessary to make improvements. Where children are without parents we have a duty of care to return them to school.

"Where they are with the parent without a reasonable excuse, we will ask the parent if they mind us escorting their child back to school."

Police hope that the effort will combat any anti-social behaviour stemming from truancy.

Martyn Stanhope, Bury Police community affairs inspector, said: "Frequently we find that robberies involve young people victimising other young people.

"We recognise that by targeting truants we are looking at the very group who are likely to become offenders or victims of street crime."