NEARLY 200 people have been arrested for drink-driving offences in Hampshire this December.

In total, 196 people have been arrested during Hampshire Constabulary’s annual Christmas drink-driving campaign – an increase on last year, when 174 people were arrested.

The latest figures, which span from the beginning of the month to Sunday, December 29, reveal that 13 of those arrests were made in Basingstoke and Deane.

Hart and Rushmoor, which includes villages like Hartley Wintney and Odiham, had 14 arrests.

The total figure includes 167 men and 29 women, with the oldest aged 82 and the youngest 17.

This year’s campaign has seen officers hand out purple ribbons to people they speak to.

The colour was the favourite of ten-year-old girl Evey Staley, who died on the Isle of Wight in August last year when her family’s car was hit by a driver who was more than two times over the drink-drive limit.