POLICE are launching a crackdown on adults who buy alcohol for young people.

The next stage of an award-winning education drive will see the force embarking on an awareness campaign which will highlight the consequences.

Groups of teenagers have been known to hang around off-licences and pester people, particularly rough sleepers, into buying drink for them.

They may also get relatives to purchase alcohol on their behalf.

Dorset Police and other agencies involved in the Blitz campaign will be reminding people that buying drink for under-18s is an offence which is punishable by either an £80 on the spot penalty or a fine of up to £5,000 in court.

The reminder will take the form of a countywide poster campaign which is being sponsored by Blandford-based brewers Hall and Woodhouse.

Sergeant Nikki Billington, who helps to co-ordinate Blitz for Dorset Police, said the new campaign highlighting the little-known offence of proxy purchasing will be known as Blitz Wize.

It will be launched at the Ship Inn pub on Weymouth quayside at the end of this month.

"The posters will be going up in off-licences throughout Dorset, plus we're having some made especially for bus shelters," Sgt Billington said.

She added: "The results of a survey we carried out in connection with the Weymouth and Portland Youth Council told us that most young people did not buy alcohol themselves but instead got an adult to buy it for them.

"We hope by launching this poster campaign we will get an important message over to adults who could end up paying a hefty fine if they buy drink for kids."

Blitz is a multi-agency initiative aimed at tackling alcohol-related problems among young people and involves the police, fire service, trading standards and voluntary groups.

Other projects launched under the banner include a school roadshow which features a hard-hitting play about the dangers of drink, a discount card for young people, an information leaflet for parents and a pub banning system for persistent offenders.

The roadshow has been so successful the Home Office hailed the scheme as best practice. Blitz was also last year's winner of the Dorset Criminal Justice awards.