Holiday incentive for teenagers

A free trip to Alton Towers is being offered to the teenagers

Teenagers in part of Leicestershire are being offered a free trip to Alton Towers as an incentive to keep them out of trouble this summer.

Eight teenagers aged between 14 and 16 from Melton's Fairmead Estate are being kept busy with educational trips.

If they misbehave at all, they lose the chance to go on the day out to the theme park at the end of the project.

The scheme aims to reduce graffiti, nuisance and criminal damage which can increase over the school holidays.

The project, funded and supported by Melton Borough Council, is part of Leicestershire Police's Safer Summer campaign which aims to break down barriers between the police and young people.

The six-week programme includes a visit to Melton police station, the Firearms Department and Dog Section at Leicestershire Constabulary Force headquarters and a tour of Stocken Prison.

Melton council's antisocial behaviour officer George Simpson said: "A lot of young people do things obviously when they're bored to amuse themselves, not using their leisure time constructively really.

"(The teenagers on the scheme) are vulnerable, they're in a certain group where, when things do happen, they're always around in that area."