THE parents of more than 20 persistent truants have been warned that they face jail if they do not keep their children in school.

The parents of 22 Bolton children are now facing legal proceedings just days after a mother in Oxford became the first person to be jailed for not stopping her children playing truant.

During the last month two Bolton youngsters have been placed in care for regularly failing to go to school. And the town's chief education social worker Ian Price has warned that at least one parent is likely to end up in prison as a result of the crackdown.

He said: "There are lots of extreme truancy cases in Bolton and I can see someone being sent to prison."

Social workers and police are staging a week-long operation to round-up local truants.

Bolton education officials have been shocked to find children are being kept off school by their parents for reasons as trivial as buying ingredients for a cookery class. A 16-strong team of police officers and social workers worked in pairs to blitz truancy hot spots including Deane and Farnworth on Monday before another squad tackled the town centre yesterday.

They were planning to visit other truancy hot spots today and Friday.

It is the first time some areas of Bolton have been targeted with the education team working closely with the police to identify areas known for street crime and gangs of loitering youths.

Many children stopped during the sweep were with their parents and illness was the most common excuse given for not being in school. However, many older youngsters claimed to be on study leave or work experience.

A mother, who was in the town centre with her 12-year-old son, claimed she could not send him to school because his trousers had split and she needed to buy a new pair.

A 13-year-old boy who was stopped while out shopping with his mother and grandmother said he was not in school because he did not have enough items for his cookery class, but when the social worker and police officer quizzed him further, he admitted his class was not until next week.

Unaccompanied children without a valid excuse for not being in school were escorted to the town hall where they were interviewed by social workers and then taken back to school immediately. Parents of pupils stopped during the sweep will receive letters from the education department even if their excuses for not being in school were genuine.

Chief Education Social Worker Ian Price said: "The Oxford mother's prison sentence will send out a clear message that we are not messing about and now at least her children are back in school. I'm pleased with the first two days of the sweep.

"There has been a huge drive from the Government for local education authorities to do this all over the country throughout May, but in Bolton we already carry out random sweeps at least once a term."