HOOLIGANS and drunks are to face the same sort of fixed penalty fines as motorists who park illegally.

The question is: how will this work?

The morning after the party, could a reveller blearily look in the mirror to see a penalty notice stuck to his forehead?

Will police write a ticket for each half brick a vandal chucks at the train, or are several covered per £40 fine?

It is easy to make fun of the Government's latest crime-busting initiative. But ministers had to do something to try to tackle the increasing tide of anti-social behaviour.

The initiative is more practical than the Prime Minister's original idea.

Two years ago he suggested police officers should march drunks and yobs to the cashpoint and make them pay instant fines, a harebrained notion which was rejected by the police.

This time, the Association of Chief Police Officers are right behind the Government.

The criticism comes from rank-and-file level, ie those officers who will have to dish out the instant justice.

They have two main concerns.

Firstly, they fear writing a ticket could prompt confrontation.

It is easy to imagine that an aggressive drunk would react badly; but then they would not take kindly to any police intervention.

Officers' other concern is that writing the ticket will waste time on the beat. This is a spurious point: one of the aims of the scheme is to reduce the mountain of paperwork which hinders police.

Whether there are enough patrolling police to make the ticket system a deterrent is a moot point.

On-the-spot fines deter illegal parking because drivers know they have a good chance of being caught.

And if lots of offenders appeal against their penalty, the courts will remain as congested as ever.

That is why the pilot schemes will be watched carefully.

If they prove that such significant practical obstacles can be overcome, "ticket justice" might just prove a useful extra weapon in the fight against anti-social crime.

Updated: 11:12 Monday, August 12, 2002