TEENAGERS from the region who took their demand for free bus fares to Downing Street are close to victory, Gordon Brown revealed yesterday.

The prime minister told Labour's conference that he wanted young people at schools and colleges to enjoy the same rights to free bus travel as the elderly.

Pointing out that free pensioner bus fares were introduced by Labour, Mr Brown said: "It is certainly something that we have to discuss in relation to young people."

He added: "I want to get to the situation where there is far more freedom for young people to travel. I hear everywhere that it is too costly to do so."

Mr Brown said it was a proposal that he wanted Alistair Darling to explore, joking: "I pass these things to the Chancellor these days."

The surprise comments, made during a question-and-answer session in Bournemouth, come just two months after North-East youngsters made that very plea to the prime minister.

Two sacks - containing a staggering 1,600 protest postcards, sent from schools, colleges and youth groups - were delivered to Britain's most famous front door.

They highlighted how teenagers studying at sixth-form and further education colleges face daily fares of up to £5 to get to their studies - a significant drain on a student's limited budget.

Furthermore, unlike on the region's buses, London's young students travel for free on the bus and at half-price on the tube.

Mr Brown also described better youth services as the "next great challenge"

for the government, because "there is not enough for young people to do".

He added: "Let's make sure that, in every area of the country, we offer and earmark youth budgets, so that even Tory areas are under an obligation".

The prime minister won applause for criticising attacks on 'hoodies', saying: "This is such an unfair picture of young people."

The session, with broadcaster Mariella Frostrup, also saw Mr Brown pre-empt his own review by pledging to act on tax loopholes exploited by private equity leaders.

There has been growing anger at the way billionaire private equity partners use taper relief on capital gains to pay as little as ten per cent tax on their earnings.

One tycoon admitted they paid "less tax than their cleaners" and warned of a "violent reaction" on Britain's streets if the wealth gap continued to grow.

Yesterday, Mr Brown said accountants made it difficult to close loopholes, but vowed: "Whenever there is a loophole that shouldn't exist, we take action. Since 1997, we have closed a massive number."

He added: "On this issue of private equity I can assure you that we will do so."

The prime minister also pledged to act "immediately" on opening up GP surgeries in the evenings and weekends, with a report due in the "next few weeks".

Rules that prevent patients registering with two surgeries - one near home and one near work - are likely to be scrapped.

Mr Brown said: "GPs have got to be open at weekends and longer hours. Almost everywhere I go in the country, people say this to me."

The prime minister repeated that a referendum on the EU treaty was not needed and called for further action to end one of the "great tragedies of our time" in Darfur.

Mr Brown said: "I don't want to look back a few years from now and say we should have acted, we could have acted, but we didn't act."