THERE’S a lot to be said for young people using initiative, acquiring life skills and challenging themselves.

But there have to be limits – and climbing 279 feet up Darwen’s India Mill chimney in the middle of the night is way beyond the boundaries of common sense.

The increasing number of climbing walls now in leisure centres help many teenagers to stay fit and agile while learning about teamwork and gaining other useful knowledge.

However, exhibitionist stunts like this can so easily go wrong and threaten the lives of members of the emergency services and local residents as well as the climbers themselves.

In this country and abroad, there are plenty of natural peaks that can be scaled sensibly.

All climbing has risks but real mountaineers tend to be modest and do their best not to put the lives of others in jeopardy.

These urban climbers seem to have been more intent on bragging about their ‘feat’ on the internet at the first opportunity.

Pity their obvious initiative and daring couldn’t be harnessed into a challenging activity with spin-off benefits, like raising money for a deserving cause.