PEOPLE in a Basingstoke suburb who owed outstanding fines have received a rude morning awakening.

Offenders in Buckskin who had avoided paying court fines were targeted in a series of early morning police raids as part of CREW - crime Reduction environment Week.

Launched on Monday, the scheme is a multi-agency project that aims to clean up the environment, target yobbish behaviour and put in place crime-prevention measures in specific areas. It also aims to catch offenders wanted for failing to pay fines imposed by the courts.

Among these offenders targeted on Wednesday morning was a woman who owed £245 from an outstanding fine for not paying for a television licence.

The woman was offered the chance by officers to pay the fine on the spot. She agreed and was escorted by officers to a cashpoint at the nearby Sainsbury's petrol station on Worting Road.

But she did not have enough money to pay the fine and was arrested and taken to Basingstoke police station.

Arrangements were then made for the woman to appear in court again.

Other offenders targeted had outstanding fines for not having a vehicle licence or for failing to notify the DVLA about change in ownership of a car.

However, in some cases, officers found that some people were no longer at the addresses shown on their arrest warrants.

Pc Lisa Cooper, who was one of the officers involved in the raids, said: "People are not going to be able to avoid the fines by moving on to get away from us. We will catch up with them eventually."

Julie Young, community safety inspector for Basingstoke police, said: "The reason why we chose Buckskin was we felt that it was one of the first areas that could benefit from this sort of attention, but there are other areas we will be looking at as well.

"This is not a quick-fix solution and it's one that we will carry on into the future."

In addition to the high-visibility patrols carried out by police on the estate during the week, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council's streetcare team helped clear up graffiti, litter and fly pos-ters as well as clearing abandoned vehicles.

Trading standards officers focused on stopping sales of alcohol and cigarettes to under-age youngsters, while firefighters visited homes to carry out safety checks.