A NEW campaign titled "You’re Asking For It" has been launched in North Lanarkshire warning adults they risk fines of up to £5,000 or a prison term if they buy alcohol for children.

The hard-hitting message is being used in a drive by the Scottish alcohol industry, Police Scotland and North Lanarkshire Community Safety Partnership, to tackle underage drinking, antisocial behaviour, crime and violence.

The campaign builds on an award-winning pilot initiative in Wishaw and Motherwell in 2015, when it achieved the Police Scotland National Excellence Award as being the project that made the "greatest contribution to policing priorities" that year.

The the 2015 pilot helped contribute to violence across the localities dropping by 30 per cent. Antisocial behaviour reduced by 13 per cent and alcohol-related youth disorder by 21 per cent. By limiting the amount of alcohol in the community, the public reported 53 per cent fewer street drinking offences.

The campaign is now gearing up for an even bigger geographical spread and potential impact, and the partnership project will also involve local retailers in their communities.

Chief Superintendent Roddy Irvine, divisional commander for Lanarkshire Division, said: “Underage drinking plays a huge part in antisocial behaviour, crime and violence in our local communities and it is important that we work together to tackle the problem and make our communities safer.

“Please support us in keeping our children safe and play your part in ensuring that your community is not asking for it.”

North Lanarkshire Council leader Jim Logue said: “Reducing alcohol sales to under-18s has a significant impact on local communities, helping to improve safety, tackle crime and antisocial behaviour, and improve health among young people.

“This campaign sends a very clear message to adults that buying alcohol for young people is not acceptable and anyone caught faces a fine or prison sentence.”

John Lee, head of policy and public affairs at the Scottish Grocers Federation, said: “We know that tackling underage drinking by targeting adults who buy alcohol for under-18s is successful, as proven in our previous campaigns in Motherwell, Wishaw and Leith.

“By running this new campaign across the whole of North Lanarkshire, we hope to help reduce crime, antisocial behaviour and noise in the area and, more importantly, reduce the number of hospital admissions for young people.”

The campaign has been launched in response to intelligence that under-18s are increasingly accessing alcohol by other means, such as asking an adult to buy it for them. Initiatives such as Challenge 25 have reduced the number of direct sales of alcohol to under 18s. Parents, retailers are the wider community are being encouraged to support the campaign by reporting incidents.