PERSONALLY, I'm not a fan of scare tactics. They seem like a cynical way of getting people to do or not do something, while leaving more appropriate methods behind.

But last week my view changed.

On Thursday I was cut out of a car by High Wycombe fire service. It was an exercise set up by the Bucks Youth Offending Team to put youth offenders into real life situations.

A scare tactic if you like. It was aimed at discouraging them from committing TWOC offences taking a car without the owner's consent or to people like you and me, joyriding.

So myself, along with two youths, were put in a scenario of having to be cut out of a car following a smash.

Was this necessary? Isn't a scary film enough to deter them? Well it's only when you get inside the car that you understand what the offending service was getting at. It is not an experience I'd wish on anybody. The windows are abruptly smashed, the cutting equipment is loud, the operation is, as a whole, quite intimidating and this is where the tactic works wonders. The kids needed to see not just what they would be going through in such a situation, but the trouble they had caused to the emergency services and the victims involved.

Reflecting on an experience, the reality of the crime was brought home much better than having used a boring school book.

Bravo, the youth offending team.