Police handed out 13 on the spot £80 penalties to revellers during their Operation Santa patrol in Oxford city centre at the weekend.

The patrols are being staged throughout the Thames Valley Police's three counties, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, in the run up to Christmas.

Police based at St Aldates city station were out on Saturday night (December 18) and a spokesman said 16 people were arrested for public order offences.

Three of these were cautioned and the remaining 13 were given on the spot £80 penalties.

Two more people were arrested for being drunk and disorderly and three were arrested for causing criminal damage.

These five were given police bail pending further inquiries.

In another aspect of the patrols' work, 12 people had their bottles of alcohol confiscated in the city centre zone where alcohol is restricted in public places.

A spokesman added that Thames Valley were planning to give an overview of the patrols' work after they had finished the Christmas crackdown.

The county ambulance service was not involved in the patrols nor did they have paramedics in so-called "field hospitals" in the city centre like those which are being set up by emergency services in Cardiff and Swansea.

The crackdown, codenamed Operation Santa, is the brainchild of Thames Valley chief constable Peter Neyroud and involves officers issuing £80 fixed penalty notices to those who misbehave in the streets in the Christmas period. The tough stance accompanies another joint initiative between the police and Oxford City Council, called Nightsafe, which aims to curb drink-related city centre violence and reclaim the streets from 18- to 25-year-olds.

Mr Neyroud has also warned his officers will come down hard on licensees who flout the law by serving underage drinkers. A "three strikes" approach could lead to them losing their licences after an initial warning and prosecution.