IT IS A Sunday afternoon, you are sitting in the garden under a cloudless blue sky with an unputdownable paperback and a cold drink.

You've reached a thrilling passage and are about to flick into a crucial page when the sound of a mechanical wasp cuts through the silence with deafening volume.

This is not something you can swot and forget about.

This is a 10-year-old boy on a mini moto driving around a playing field creating a racket at the back of your house.

Bikers and mini-bikers have become the overnight suburban nemesis of the times.

It is not just that they are dangerous to walkers and cyclists it is also the fact that they are menacingly loud and brazenly anti-social.

To ensure that youngsters are not placing themselves or pedestrians in danger and to restore the peace, the Government is clamping down.

Operations to target illegal and anti-social motorbike riders are about to kick-start throughout Chester, Vale Royal and Ellesmere Port & Neston.

Off-road police bikes are being used as part of the campaign which will see a no-nonsense approach taken towards the minority of riders who make the lives of others a misery with inconsiderate and illegal riding.

Cash from the police and community safety partnerships is fuelling the work. It has been used to buy the all important off-road police bikes, train and kit out riders .

The work coincides with a nationwide Government crackdown on mini-motorbikes and an additional £5,000 is being pumped into operations in Chester following a successful bid by the city's Community Safety Part-nership to the Respect cash pot, which is funding the Home Office work.

The important tools in the police's armoury during the summer-long initiative will not only be the off-road bikes.

Powers to seize bikes from riders who ride anti-socially and illegally will stop offenders in their path. Powers of arrest and fixed penalty notices for disorder are also at their disposal.

Operations Supt Paul McHugh said: 'We know this is a problem which causes great concern to many communities and that's why we as police feel it is important to put as much as we can into tackling it.

'Regardless of the area a resident lives in the Western Area, they can rest assured that any problems with nuisance bikes, including mini-motos, will be identified and tackled as part of this campaign.'

'A range of agencies are now equipped to deal with different aspects of illegal and anti-social motorbike use including local authorities who have certain powers to tackle noisy vehicles.'

Agencies are also dedicated to raising

awareness of the law surrounding the use of motorised vehicles among riders, parents and retailers. Informative leaflets and posters distributed in the community will help achieve this.

The combination of enforcement and education action is aimed at reducing the mini-moto problem and progress will be closely monitored throughout the summer break to ensure tactics are effective.

Offenders not only risk having their bikes seized, they risk being charged with motoring offences and, in the most serious cases, agencies will consider applying for Anti-social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) against riders who persistently cause harassment, alarm or distress with their inconsiderate riding.

Offenders will also be hit in the wallet as they must pay to have their bike returned if it's seized and in some circumstances, the vehicle may even be crushed.

Supt McHugh said: 'Nuisance motor-bike use is blighting a handful of communities. That is not acceptable nor will it be tolerated. We don't want to spoil people's fun but the fact is bikes are being used illegally and dangerously.

'We don't want to tell a parent their child has been injured in an accident.'