THOUSANDS of boiled sweets are to be handed out to students asking them to keep the noise down as they make their way home from the pub.

Police have bought 10,000 fruit-flavoured sweets bearing either the message "Shush" or "Quiet Please" to be handed out to drinkers on the streets of Durham City.

The sweeties will be kept in reserve for busy nights and handed out whenever officers feel revellers need a reminder to keep the noise down as they make their way home.

The idea came after a number of local residents complained about the noise being made by students as they headed from the city centre bars and through residential areas.

Inspector Paul Anderson, of Durham Police, said: "The idea of handing out sweets or lollipops at the end of a night has been done in other areas, but we think Durham is the first to include a message aimed at those who might otherwise make a racket.

"Late-night noise is a genuine issue for a number of our residents and we hope this initiative will make a difference.

"It also provides another way for our officers to engage with students and other revellers when they are out on the town."

Launched as part of the ongoing ‘Safe City’ campaign, funding for the initiative came a number of organisations including Durham County Council, the city’s PubWatch scheme, Durham University and Teikyo University of Japan in Durham, which gives Japanese undergraduates the opportunity of spending a year learning in the north east.

The principal ‘candy cops’ will be university liaison officers, PCSOs Phil Raine and Paul Coburn, supported by members of the local neighbourhood policing team.

"Safe City", which was launched in October, is an ongoing campaign to make Durham the safest city in the UK, the success of the scheme to be measured by rates of crime, incidents of anti-social behaviour and public confidence surveys.