A 70-STRONG gang of pupils caused chaos as they celebrated the last day of school.

Emergency services from South Cheshire and North Staffs were drafted in as police made attempts to contain problems caused by Year 11 pupils from Alsager School.

Five officers and two community wardens requested urgent back-up from police at Sandbach and fire appliances were called from Kidsgrove and Crewe after drunken teenagers caused a blaze in Cedar Avenue next to a care home.

A residents football match was also stopped due to pupils' behaviour around the pitch. The incidents happened on Tuesday last week.

Congleton Police Community Action Team community support officer Tony Hayes said: 'Throughout the night we confiscated more than 50 bottles and cans of alcohol, and continued to be called to Hassall Road and College Road to address incidents all related to pupils celebrating finishing school.

'I have reassured the farmer who owns the large field at the rear of Cedar Avenue that we did everything we could to contain 70-plus pupils who had a party on his land and left hundreds of cans and bottles for him the clear up before he could use the area to safely graze his cattle.

'Further to this, pupils were crossing the railway line to gain access to the field. I don't have to point out the safety implications of this.

'We visited the school numerous times over the last few months to discuss alcohol issues with pupils.

'We are very disappointed that the reduction in incidents we achieved was eliminated in a few hours.'

Alsager School deputy head Lyndsay Purcell said: 'We are disappointed there should have been such a large scale nuisance by Alsager youths through under-age drinking, particularly as we work with police who come in to school to discuss alcohol-related issues.

'We are prepared to work with community organisations to challenge the problem. As a parent myself, I want to know what my children are doing. To hold the school responsible for what youngsters get up to in the evening is unfair.

'Parents should not turn a blind eye to this sort of behaviour, but this is a problem across the country.

'We take the responsibility to educate children about under-age drinking very seriously. We will continue to work with police on this.'