Children under 16 repeatedly caught drinking alcohol in Wantage and Grove are to be sent on an education workshop with their parents. Families have welcomed the idea, which aims to educate young drinkers about the risks of drinking.

During the six-month trial, due to start before the end of the year, any child caught drinking in public by police more than once will be urged to attend an alcohol awareness course with their parents or carers.

The scheme is also being tested in Didcot and comes as Wantage police this week revealed they seized 160 litres of alcohol from teenagers at trouble spots in Wantage and Grove in July and August.

Pc Darren James said: "Wantage doesn't have a particularly bad problem with underage drinking, but we had to choose a town in the Vale to test it."

The scheme is funded by the Vale and South Oxfordshire Community Safety Partnerships, and will be linked to Operation Malborough, a neighbourhood policing initiative run by Wantage police, focusing on underage drinking and antisocial behaviour.

Karen Brown, community safety projects officer for the Vale of White Horse District Council, said: "The community sees a lot of underage drinking and we decided it would be good to run the workshop to highlight the problems. We will hopefully be rolling it out across the Vale and south Oxfordshire. If they're under 16, there's a chance we can educate them."

Mother-of-three Natasha Waldman, 31, of Harcourt Road, Wantage, said: "I am divided on it. It's hard enough to know where your children are 24 hours a day and teenagers need some freedom.

"Equally, there are some parents who don't know where their children are and don't care — and for those parents it might make them think twice.

"There's a problem of underage drinking in Wantage and Grove, and it's a positive step forward."

Mary Golding, 63, of Barwell, Wantage, has had problems with underage drinking near her home.

She said: "It's a good idea. Most kids follow after their parents and under 16 is quite young to have alcohol. They used to have Borstal of course, but we don't have that any more."

The workshop will be run by youth support organisation ActiveTen20 at Wantage Civic Hall.

Penalties for not attending could result in an Acceptable Behaviour Contract being drawn up between the offender and police.