A HOT-LINE set up to prevent young people from becoming hooked on booze has flopped - and Oxfordshire County Council is this week renewing its call for people to report shops that sell alcohol to under-18s.

The council is also calling on adults to stop putting young people into contact with alcohol.

A recent report from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs said alcohol abuse by young people reflected how easily it was made available by grown-ups.

The report revealed that alcohol was widely accessible to schoolchildren through social contacts and by underage purchases from shops. Trading standards' surveys have found that 22% of licensed premises sell alcohol to under-18s.

Oxfordshire's trading standards team recently launched an Anyone for a Drink' hot-line in partnership with Cherwell District Council and Thames Valley Police.

But fewer people than expected called the number, and the campaign is being relaunched with a new appeal for adults to report shops where young people can buy alcohol.

County council youth worker Brendon Miller said: "We are concerned that adults put young people at risk, both physically and mentally, through selling alcohol to under-18s."

Dr Kelechi Nnoaham, public health registrar with Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust, said: "Hospital admissions of children with acute alcohol poisoning have dramatically risen ten-fold increase in the last ten years."

Ray Jelf, the county council's executive member for community safety, said: "Trading standards are continuing to fight the illegal sale of alcohol, and any information that would help us to identify rogue shops should be reported."

The hot-line number is 01865 815500.