POLICE and education welfare officers today revealed they had stopped almost 150 children in just two days following the launch of a crackdown on truancy in Blackburn and Darwen schools.

Officers in Lancashire Constabulary's eastern division and council welfare officers begun the new hard line regime on Wednesday.

And they revealed they had caught 47 children truanting with a parent or carer on the first day of the crackdown, as well as another 14 children wandering around Blackburn town centre on their own. A further 58 pupils with a parent or carer and another 15 unaccompanied children were stopped again on Thursday.

The truancy team can now use section 16 of Jack Straw's controversial Crime and Disorder Act to remove children from the streets. Under the scheme, children found playing truant are taken to a place specially designated by the authority and not to the police station as the law does not provide powers of arrest.

The pupils stopped this week were taken to Blackburn with Darwen Council's Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) before being taken back to school by education welfare officers.

The majority of children should have been attending schools within Blackburn and Darwen, although some were returned to schools outside the borough. Some children were also collected by parents or carers. A spokesman for Blackburn with Darwen Council said most children stopped were known to be regular truants and that the authority planned to follow up the operation with letters to parents.

The schools involved have all been contacted by phone and any pupil who is not already a known truant will also be visited by a member of the education welfare team.

Coun Sheila Williams, the council's Conservative education spokeswoman, said she was horrified by the figures.

She said: "I am horrified at the number of pupils playing truant, but I am pleased that the operation has been a success. It is time children knew that they cannot just absent themselves from school as and when they feel like it and it is time parents knew what their children were doing when they should be at school."

Inspector Dale Allen, of Blackburn Police, said: "We hope this sends a clear message."

The exercise is to be repeated at the beginning of the next school term.

Bill Taylor, executive member for education and training at Blackburn with Darwen Council, added: "When this opportunity came as part of the Crime and Disorder Act and statistics showed that 40 per cent of street and auto crime was carried out by children of school age in school time, we were eager to pursue it. It makes the town centre safer and protects children from temptation.."