POLICE will hold the region's biggest-ever blitz against drink drivers as part of a hard-hitting campaign this Christmas.

Officers from the Durham, Cleveland and Northumbria forces will breath-test thousands of drivers at roadside stops during December, if officers suspect them of being over the limit.

Senior police officers have spent months drawing up the plan, in a bid to reduce deaths on the roads.

Last night, they were not revealing where drivers would be targeted in the early morning, afternoon and evening spot checks.

But they said intelligence-led operations would be mounted between Teesside and the Scottish borders against drivers identified as "potential killers".

Traffic officers will compile details of offenders who persist in driving while over the limit, including where they live, which pubs they use and the cars they drive.

The annual campaign was launched yesterday at Durham's Ramside Hall Hotel under the message "How will you get home tonight?".

The media and Government officials were given a preview of a television campaign to run throughout December, showing graphic images from real accidents.

In one scene, a victim is zipped into a body bag, while in another paramedics try frantically to save a person's life with heart massage.

A Victorian hearse reinforced the blunt message that drinking and driving can end in tragedy.

Figures revealed yesterday show a hard core of drivers still getting behind the wheel while drunk.

In the first nine months of this year, a total of 33,854 roadside breath tests in the North-East resulted in 3,796 arrests.

In the same period last year, 35,711 people were breathalysed, of whom 4,025 were positive.

The assistant chief constable of Durham, Ron Hogg, said: "Drinking and driving is unacceptable to the vast majority of people, and there is no doubting that constant campaigning works.

"Over the last decade, the number of deaths caused by drunken drivers has halved, but statistics tell us that one in five of all drivers who die in road smashes have more than the legal limit of alcohol in their bodies.

"Our motive for mounting our latest campaign is simple - to save lives, particularly in the run-up to Christmas."