Excessive drinking among young people is a major problem, rightly blamed for much of the disorder and violence in our towns and cities. The authorities are right to be urging pubs and clubs to behave more responsibly and to be seeking an end to the "happy hours" and other cut-price drinks offers which encourage excessive consumption.

But as well as targeting the places where young people can drink legally, it is good that police and Trading Standards officers should also be looking hard at the shops where alcohol can be bought illegally by people under age. Every effort needs to be made to prevent children getting the alcohol habit too early.

There has been plenty of publicity about this in recent years, yet it is being ignored by far too many shopkeepers judging by the findings of the latest "sting" operation carried out by the West Yorkshire Trading Standards Service.

As part of an on-going campaign, last weekend they sent a 14-year-old boy to buy drink at off-licences which had been reported to them for selling to under-age youngsters. As a result they caught out three Bradford and Keighley traders. In the first two weeks of a nationwide crackdown, 49 per cent of targeted off-licences were found to be selling alcohol to children.

This sort of clampdown needs to be repeated regularly to get the message across that society takes the illegal sale of drink to young people very seriously. A run of successful prosecutions should help to ensure that the rules are upheld and that shops take the necessary steps to verify the ages of their young customers.