AN EDUCATIONAL drugs bus which visits Wellington to help warn young people about the dangers of substance misuse has been given financial backing of councillors.

Members of Wellington Town Council’s finance committee recommended at their latest meeting to award a grant of £900 to local police to help fund the vehicle visiting the area again in future.

The drugs bus – a converted double decker – gives visitors a chance to explore a variety of issues around drug taking, prevention and knowledge.

Visitors go to ‘crack shack’ – an area made to look like a drugs den – where they learn about different substances and their effects.

At the end of their visit they are taken to an on-board jail where they have to solve a series of puzzles relating to the information they had already been told in order to be released.

The drugs bus is run by Resilience Voyage, a Somerset-based company which designs and runs stimulating and interactive resilience and prevention workshops and programmes.

Councillors agreed that the drugs bus – which has previously visited Court Fields School in Wellington – was a good facility to have.

Cllr Dean Bradley said: “This is a very useful tool and well run. It is quite an eye-opener.”

Cllr Vivienne Stock-Williams said: “It is mind-blowing.”

And Deputy Mayor, Cllr Mark Lithgow, said: “It gets the message across very well and very powerfully.”

Partnership support officer Sharon Baker, of Wellington police, told councillors the drugs bus had received fantastic feedback from visitors.

She said that 91 per cent of people had said their knowledge and understanding of the dangers of drugs had increased, while 89 per cent of people were more aware about the issues involving the County Lines drugs gangs operating in Somerset.

“I would honestly say that our findings have shown a huge level of awareness and understanding for young people and their families,” she said.

Cllr Nick Smith suggested it would be better to have people who have been on the wrong side of drugs to explain to people their consequences. “I think we should get people who have ‘been there’ to come in and speak to them,” he said.

Although the full meeting of the council ratified the finance committee’s earlier recommendation to award a £920 grant, Cllr John Thorne was concerned about escalating funds as last year it had only awarded £700 to the project.

Councillors were told the increase was probably due to increased fuel costs.