Children as young as nine and ten are playing truant around Bradford city centre, a police clampdown has revealed.

Youngsters felt the long arm of the law when teams of police officers stopped unaccompanied children found wandering around the city centre.

PC Ian Walmsley, Bradford Central Police's Youth Services Officer, said the findings were worrying.

"What concerned us was that some of the youngsters we came across were very young.

"We found a brother and sister aged nine and ten that were in town with their parents' consent to buy school shoes, books and crayons.

"These children could easily become victims of crime or in the worst case they could be put in danger themselves."

The crackdown was carried out in partnership with Bradford Council's Education Social Work Service.

Its main aim was to find the extent of the problem with truants hanging around the city centre.

Over the two-day vigil they rounded up a total of 38 children who should have been behind their desks at 16 different schools.

PC Walmsley said officers also counted a further 46 children accompanied by adults.

"There may have been a perfectly good reason for them not to be in school, such as they were ill, but we don't know. This was a dip sampling exercise to give us an idea of the number of youngsters who are playing truant in the city centre and which schools they should be attending."

Parents will also be targeted during the two-day exercise. "We will also try to educate parents as to their responsibilities in ensuring children attend school," said PC Walmsley.

Community Safety Officer, Sgt Chris Plowman, said truancy was a problem that required teamwork to solve. "Truancy is not simply a problem for the police. By working with other agencies we can achieve more positive results."

Bradford Council's Executive Member for Education and Lifelong Learning, Councillor Susanne Rooney, said parents have a legal responsibility to ensure their children went to school.

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