POLICE in the region say they are disappointed at the number of people caught drinking and driving in the run-up to Christmas.

Between December 13 and 22, 37 drivers out of 500 who were stopped in North Yorkshire failed breath tests.

A spokesman said changes to the way figures are recorded made it difficult to make a precise comparison to last year. But the feeling among officers was that the figures were worse than in the same period last year.

This year, the North Yorkshire force is stationing police cars in lay-bys and stopping passing drivers.

Any motorist who appears to have been drinking is asked to take a breathalyser test.

Speaking about the results, Inspector Chris Charlton said: "It's not good enough. We will continue our efforts to get these people off our road with patrols, breath tests of every driver involved in an accident and especially static checks.

"We are particularly aware of morning-after drivers - those who set out with the previous night's alcohol in their system."