A MOCK mobile off-licence is being used to teach Teesside youngsters the perils of under-age drinking.

Police took their stage-set off-licence on the road for the first time yesterday, visiting a community centre to dramatically illustrate to youngsters the pitfalls of abusing alcohol.

Beat officers say most of their time is spent dealing with complaints about drunken youngsters. The complaints often come from pensioners who feel intimidated by groups of noisy youths who have been drinking.

Cleveland Police premiered their theatrical off-licence and house frontage at Thornaby South Community Centre and set youngster aged eight to 12 role-playing tasks.

In this way, they learned to appreciate how adults saw them as a problem and what trouble could be caused by pestering adults to illegally buy them drink from off-licences.

If the session is agreed to have been a success, it may be taken into schools next term.

It also has the potential to be shown to pensioners and other adults, so they can appreciate life from the youngsters' view.

Sergeant Brian Boulton, Stockton community policing team leader, said: "The idea is to put over the message that hanging around shouting, sitting on someone's wall and kicking footballs outside someone's house can be a real nuisance, even if the children don't think they are doing anything wrong.

"We try to make them think again, before they respond to a request to move with abuse, and to respect other people's lives.

"We also show them the consequences of pestering adults to buy them drink from off-licences.

"They don't think of the results of drinking, such as shop owners losing their jobs and drunk kids causing embarrassment and problems for their families, or hindering their progress at school.

"This set also has great potential for teaching adults the other side of their disputes with kids who are not the great danger to them that is perceived."

The first role-players in the £5,000 set came from Thornaby Community School, Grangefield, in Stockton, St Patrick's, Thornaby, and Macmillan's, in Middlesbrough.