FIVE people have been fined for selling alcohol to children after being trapped by youngsters with hidden cameras.

Trading Standards officers mounted the undercover operation last year to catch shopkeepers and bar staff during a crackdown on teenage drinking in Bolton.

Staff at a town centre pub and two Farnworth off-licences were prosecuted at Bolton magistrates court following the 'stings'.

Barmaid Kirsty McLay, of Brooklands Grove, Smithills, was fined £100 with £100 costs after she sold alcohol to two 16-year-old girls in The Brass Cat in Churchgate on two nights.

The licensee, Anthony O'Gorman, was fined £300 with £150 costs for the offences on September 23 and 24.

The court was told that Mr O'Gorman had trained his staff to ask for identification, but Miss McLay had not asked either of the girls.

Theresa Hunt, aged 41, of Tig Fold Road, Farnworth, was fined £50 with £50 costs for selling White Lightning cider to a 16-year-old girl on September 3 at J&B Roberts Off-Licence in Springfield Road, Kearsley.

Licensee Brenda Roberts was fined £100 with £117 costs for the same offence.

Jaynti Vara, who runs the Rudimas store in Egerton Street, Farnworth, was fined £100 with £192 costs for selling cans of lager to a 15-year-old boy on October 22.

Alex Jackson, prosecuting, said: Underage drinking, and particularly binge drinking, leads to health risks and is a major factor in anti-social behaviour.

The maximum fine for anybody who sells alcohol is £1,000 and licensees caught more than once can have their licence revoked.

Another sting was staged last week and eight licensees are now facing action after alcohol was sold to children.

Trading Standards used undercover youngsters at 12 shops in Bolton town centre and Halliwell on Friday night and found that a 15-year-old boy was able to buy alcohol at four off-licences.

The 15-year-old boy was also served alcohol in all four pubs checked in Great Lever and Farnworth on Saturday night.

The bar staff and shop workers were issued with on-the-spot fines and the licensees warned that they could be taken to court.

A similar crackdown in Horwich and Westhoughton was hailed a success after none of the pubs and shops visited sold drink to youngsters.