Young people from a York community which hit the headlines over a shocking petrol-sniffing craze have stepped into the spotlight to warn of the dangers of solvent abuse.

Tonight, the group of teenagers, from New Earswick, will launch a hard-hitting video package highlighting the perils of sniffing solvents.

It is hoped their film, Is There A Solution?, will become a vital tool in schools and youth groups across the country.

The two-year project which produced the video came out of a community forum set up after the Evening Press published horrifying pictures from a police undercover surveillance video.

It showed children as young as ten staggering drunk in the riverside area of New Earswick after sniffing petrol fumes from cans.

These revelations, in 1997, came only days before seven-year-old Christopher Smith, who lived on a caravan site in James Street, York, died after inhaling fumes from a tin of tyre glue. The 20-minute video, jointly funded by City of York Council Youth Service and the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust, and an information pack funded by York Safer City Partnership, will be launched by the young people who produced it at New Earswick Folk Hall tonight.

Youth worker Bob Purrington, who has worked with the group for a year, said: "They were rightly concerned about an activity which was impinging on their peer group and they wanted to do something about it.

"The end product is very good and I think we are rightly proud of it. Hopefully it will help to raise awareness among other young people."

York police sergeant Tim Bright, who has also been involved with the project, said: "Solvents kill more people than any other drug but often they get less attention.

"The young people were affected by what we revealed in 1997 and went on to devise and produce this whole package, which is very, very good."

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