THE latest crackdown on teenage binge drinkers has seen dozens of cans and bottles seized from underage children.

New tactics launched on the latest round of raids on off-licences saw Trading Standards officers posing as customers in shops while teenagers believed to be as young as 14 were sold cans and bottles of beer, spirits and alcopops.

Officers then used radio equipment to inform waiting police officers who seized the booze from under-18s.

Around 10 youngsters were stopped by police outside the unnamed shop in the operation last Friday night and a follow-up swoop is planned which officers hope will give them enough evidence to secure a conviction.

More swoops have been promised after the Home Office ordered a crackdown on drunken violence in a number of hot-spots across England and Wales, which included Bolton.

Trading Standards will now be working closely with police to identify offending stores in Bolton and hit unscrupulous licensees with fines of up to £1,000 and the threat of revoking sales licences if shop owners are caught flouting the law a second time.

Dozens of shop workers have already been caught out since undercover youngsters were first used to trap those who break the law and officers hope the new method of targeting offenders will help stop the supply of alcohol to children.

Principal Trading Standards officer Darrell Wilson said: "The message is clear that we now have a range of methods open to us which we can use to stop the supply of alcohol to the under-18s.

"Police were actually involved in taking some of the kids home because they were in such a state."