Bored youngsters are responsible for a lot of the disorder and vandalism which blights life in some of the suburbs and villages around the Bradford district. Many of them behave badly enough when sober. With alcohol inside them, they are even worse.

The people of Silsden are understandably fed-up about the problems caused by boozy children and want something to be done to put a stop to youngsters, who they claim can be as young as 12, trailing around the streets at midnight with cans of beer in their hands.

The police, who have rejected calls for new by-laws to outlaw drinking on the streets, say that current legislation is sufficient to deal with the problem.

If that is the case, it is time they enforced that legislation rigorously to put a stop to the drinking which clearly is causing a lot of concern to Silsden residents.

The community constable has already made a start by visiting off-licences and rightly reminding them of the law regarding the sale of alcohol. If any of them are selling to under-age youngsters, that is shameful.

However, there is always the possibility that some of the children are bringing their booze from home, which in any case is where the real responsibility for dealing with this problem should lie.

Hard though it is to control children as they head into their teens, it is up to parents to make sure they know what their sons and daughters are up to in an evening and prevent them becoming a nuisance to the community in which they live.