POLICE bosses are considering deploying officers outside nightclubs to ask people to take voluntary breath tests in a new move to combat drink-driving.

The idea is being considered after more than one in 10 Basingstoke drivers breathalysed over the festive period were arrested for being over the drink-drive limit.

Statistics show that during a crackdown between December 18 and January 2, Basingstoke police carried out 130 breath tests, which led to 15 arrests - a rate of nearly 12 per cent.

While this arrest rate was similar to that of 2002, there was what the police are calling a "disturbing rise" in the number of people caught drink-driving throughout Hampshire and the Isle of Wight over the festive period.

A total of 197 people were taken into custody over the 2003-4 Christmas campaign period, compared with 188 in 2002 and 160 the year before.

Breath tests taken from people who had been involved in collisions showed almost eight per cent of drivers were over the limit, compared with fewer than five per cent last year.

Roads policing unit casualty reduction manager Sergeant Steve Wakeford said a high-profile poster campaign depicting a teddy bear crushed under the wheels of a car had clearly failed to have the desired effect.

"We are pretty disgusted by the drink-drive figures," he said. "We thought the posters got the message across but it doesn't seem to have been heeded.

"What will it take for these drivers to realise the dangers that drink-driving presents? It is not just a case of losing your licence. You could kill someone else as well as lose your own life."

Sgt Wakeford added he was particularly concerned that nearly half of all the offenders were aged under 30.

He said the police were now considering new tactics to ram the anti-drink-drive message home, such as standing outside nightclub exits to ask people to provide voluntary breath tests.

"Not only would this make people think about the issue, it could also show those about to get behind the wheel that they are not okay to drive," he said.