Black cabs in parts of Hampshire are carrying the message “You drink, I’ll drive” as part of a six week anti-drink campaign launched last Wednesday.

Thirty taxis in five areas in Hampshire, including Aldershot and Farnborough, will carry the slogan in a bid to curb the temptation among revellers to drink and drive over the festive period.

Ernie Sage, Hampshire County Council’s road safety manager, joined crash victim Elaine Emmett in Winchester to see the slogans go on to the first licensed cabs.

Ms Emmett was injured in a crash caused by her friend, who was over the drink-drive limit.

She said: “Any amount of alcohol affects your ability to drive. There is no foolproof way of drinking and staying under the limit, or of knowing how much an individual person can drink and still drive safely.

“If you are going to drink, then leave the car at home or take a taxi - you will be stopping yourself from bec-oming a drink-driver.”

Drink-driving still accounts for one in seven deaths on the roads each year.

In Hampshire last year, 163 people were arrested for drink driving and 106 of them had been involved in crashes.

Cllr Mel Kendal, the county council’s cabinet member for the environment, said the statistics made for sobering reading and showed there was still a significant number of drivers who deliberately flout the law.

He said: “I hope this campaign pricks the consc-iousness of anyone who would consider drinking and driving to make the sensible decision to get a cab instead.”

Perpetrators of alcohol-related violent crime would also be targeted in the run up to Christmas. Huge vans displaying posters, with the tagline “Offender or Victim? How will your night end?”, will travel around the county throughout December as part of a police crackdown on booze-fuelled crime.

The posters will show hard-hitting images of the same person as the aggressor and the victim, with injuries that could have been sustained during a drunken brawl.

The campaign, supported by the Hampshire Drug and Alcohol Team, will run from 9pm to 3am and target areas where revellers will be out celebrating the festive season.

Hampshire Constabulary’s chief constable Alex Marshall said he hoped the campaign would go some way towards reducing the pressure on accident and emergency units across the country, where up to three quarters of all cases dealt with on a Friday and Saturday night are alcohol related.

He said: “There is already a lot of work conducted as part of our Safer Streets campaign that is aimed at preventing violent crime. I want to make sure we build on this.”