THE Government's summer crackdown on drunken louts has seen nearly 1,900 troublemakers handed on-the-spot fines in four weeks.
Home Office figures showed police had visited 14,150 licensed premises, of which 5% were found to have committed an offence.
They also carried out `sting' operations on 646 premises and of these, 51% of pubs, clubs and bars and 29% of off-licences were found to be selling drink to children.
Half-way through the blitz on alcohol-related crime, a Home Office spokesman said the campaign had been a "large-scale success".
The unprecedented clampdown involving police, trading standards officers and other agencies was launched on July 8 in 92 police areas across England and Wales.
It aims to tackle unruly binge drinkers who make some town and city centres `no go areas' on weekend nights.
The figures also showed police had confiscated alcohol from 1,764 under-18s and from 2,553 adults found to be drinking in a `designated area'.
Of the 1,869 fixed penalty notices issued in the four weeks, 794 were for causing harassment, 786 for being drunk and disorderly and 289 for other alcohol-related offences.
Home Secretary David Blunkett said:
"We are no longer prepared to tolerate our towns and city centres becoming no-go areas on Friday and Saturday nights."
