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It's been revealed half of child binge drinkers admit to get violent - find out more here
Thousands of teenage pupils binge drink at least once a week and more than half admit they've been violent when drunk, according to a poll.
Children are knocking back five or more units at a time, the Trading Standards Institute warned, following the survey of 12,000 youngsters.
- Just over half of the regular "binge drinkers" said they'd been violent when drinking.
- While 22% of them regretted having sex while drunk
- Another 15% had been passengers in cars driven by someone who'd been drinking.
- Nearly half of the 14 to 17-year-old pupils surveyed drank alcohol at
least once a week, the Trading Standards survey found. - Overall, the proportion of youngsters who drank sometimes was 83% while 17%
never drank. - Nearly a third of those who sometimes drank were regular binge drinkers,
the poll revealed.
The proportion of 14 to 17-year-olds drinking booze at least once a week has dropped from 50% to 44% over the past two years.
And the volume of schoolchildren buying their own alcohol has decreased from 40% to 28% over the same period.
Fake ID
But one in 14 youngsters surveyed carried a form of fake ID - many of them bought over the internet.
The poll of nearly 12,000 schoolchildren was commissioned by the Trading Standards North West under-age sales strategy group.
Its findings will be sent to Government to help inform the next national alcohol harm reduction strategy.
Brenda Fullard, senior public health specialist for the Department of Health in the North West, said alcohol was the biggest "contributory factor" to hospital admissions of children on weekend nights.
"It is worrying that nearly a third of our young people are drinking large quantities of alcohol when underage, and then many of them are getting into fights, having unplanned sex or getting into cars with drivers who have been
drinking," she said.
Drinking in pubs
The teenage girls questioned were more likely to drink in pubs and clubs than the teenage boys, who were more likely to drink outside - usually in groups.
Just over half (55%) of respondents who'd tried to buy booze had been asked to produce ID.
The proportion of 14 to 17-year-olds who never drink alcohol has risen to 17% from 12% in 2005.
Tony Allen, chair of the strategy group which organised the survey, said the work of Trading Standards officers and police was starting to have an impact.
"Children are telling us that it is much harder to buy alcohol now than it used to be," he said.
"However, there is much more work to be done - particularly to target the 45% of child drinkers who report never being asked for ID.''
