DURHAM bowler Simon Brown has launched the Government's summer drink-drive campaign.

The side's first international Test cricketer attended the regional launch yesterday at the Riverside ground, Chester-le-Street, during Durham's match against Derbyshire.

The campaign is aimed at men aged 18 to 30, and focuses on a convicted driver who is home alone, pondering his one-year ban, while his girlfriend is out enjoying herself with her new boyfriend in his car.

Transport Minister David Jamieson said: "Drink-drivers risk killing themselves and others and the possibility of a jail sentence, but there are other consequences which should act as a further deterrent - the disastrous implications for their social life.

"Although drink-driving occurs across a range of age groups, young men aged 18 to 30 are over-represented in both casualties and positive breath tests - hence the need for this targeted approach."

The radio commercials, which are voiced by Ricky Gervais from the BBC sitcom The Office, will run until August 26.