A FESTIVE drink-driving operation by police resulted in five arrests in Bolton after drivers gave positive breath tests following car crashes.

Local police made 13 arrests for drink-driving and carried out 122 breath tests during the month-long operation in December and January. The number of arrests tallies exactly with the figures recorded last year.

Five people arrested in Bolton during the "None for the Road" campaign were breath tested by police following accidents.

Police said it was "appalling" that people had risked lives for the sake of a drink.

Across Greater Manchester, 317 people were arrested, with 273 of them for alcohol consumption and 44 of the motorists having taken drugs.

General traffic units made further arrests in Bolton during the initiative but these figures were not broken down by area, according to police.

Officers in the region carried out 5,913 breath and field impairment tests and of those 5.2 per cent tested positive, compared to 4.4 per cent last year.

Sgt Matt Bailey-Smith from GMP’s Roads Policing Unit said: “It’s appalling to see so many people risking lives for the sake of a drink and I’m only thankful we caught them before they killed themselves or somebody else.

“Our Christmas operation may be over but our fight against drink and drug drivers continues and we will not rest our laurels until people stop causing misery on our roads.”

Pubs in Bolton helped tackle drink-driving by rewarding designated drivers with "buy one get one free" Coca-Cola drinks.

GMP’s traffic unit launched its month-long annual drink drive operation on December 1 and officers were out across the force targeting hotspot areas.

If you know somebody who drinks and drives, please call police on 101 or if you do not wish to speak to police, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

In an emergency, where a drink driver is posing an immediate risk to themselves or others, please dial 999.

For updates from GMP’s traffic unit, follow @gmptraffic on twitter.