AS soon as school holidays arrive, police across East Lancashire are guaranteed to see an upsurge in vandalism of all kinds.

Many youngsters are not just causing damage and trouble but putting lives at risk – their own and those of others.

Wednesday night’s incident at Accrington was doubly dangerous.

One of a group of trespassing children was seen dangling above a road – from a railway bridge.

Their presence beside the main East Lancs railway line forced authorities to send an emergency message to the driver to stop a Blackpool to Colne train.

Then passengers had to wait while police searched the area.

The potential for disaster in such actions has to be hammered home. Too often during school holidays, transport police find all kinds of obstacles placed on tracks which could easily cause a derailment.

And apart from the real possibility that messing around could cost lives, any train driver who is unable to stop hitting a youngster is likely to be left psychologically scarred for years to come.

Parents must play their part in keeping kids off the tracks.