A Thames Valley Police scheme to offer rewards to people who inform on drink-drivers has been extended across the country.

The scheme, offering up to £500, was introduced last year and officers said they were inundated with calls.

Senior officers said they wanted to catch persistent and arrogant drink-drivers who believed they would not get caught.

There was a 10 per cent increase, compared with the previous year, in drink-driving arrests in the year to April in the Thames Valley area. Arrests in Oxfordshire also rose, by 242.

One of the largest in- creases was in the southern Oxfordshire police area, where there were 605 arrests last year - compared with just 250 in 1999-2000.

But the number of alcohol-related collisions is falling. There was a 18 per cent decrease in serious injury collisions and a 26 per cent decrease in fatal accidents.

If a call made to police about a drink-driver leads to an arrest and conviction, the average reward would be between £80 and £120, but more serious cases could realise £500.

Ron Jessup, vice-chairman of the Campaign Against Drinking and Driving, said: "This is the peak time of year for drink-drivers. Crimestoppers are launching this as the crime to report at Christmas."

Mr Jessup, whose daughter Penny, 21, was killed by a drink-driver in 1993, said CADD backed the scheme.

Insp Phil Rogers, from Thames Valley Police, said people contacting Crimestoppers would not have their details passed to police or have to be identified to get the reward.

Anyone with information about drink-driving offences should call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111, or 999.