'Sex bus' offers children free chlamydia tests

'Sex bus' offers children free chlamydia tests.Schoolchildren are being offered free chlamydia tests and keyring condom holders from a "sex bus" parked on the busy family beach of Bournemouth.

A team of youth workers will staff the vehicle to welcome teens as young as 13 on board to test for the sexually transmitted disease.

They will also hand out leaflets and free gifts and show educational DVDs to youngsters who visit the bus on the seafront in Dorset.

Officials behind the "Summer of Love" scheme claim it educates children and reduces the rate of teenage pregnancies.

But opponents have criticised it as a waste of money and say it not only encourages underage sexual activity, but advertises it to a beach full of young families.

The bus campaign is the brainchild of concerned council workers at Bournemouth Borough Council.

In a bid to appeal to the youngsters they have given the project the slogan "R U Sure Ur Really Ready?"

It caters for children aged 13 and over, although no proof of age will be required and staff will use their own judgment to assess maturity.

The bus will be parked outside an amusement arcarde on Bournemouth promenade every Friday evening during the summer holidays.

Tim Fewell, head of youth service at Bournemouth council, said: "This is very much focused on the idea of encouraging young people to delay sexual activity until they are ready.

"It is also extremely important that we are realistic.

"Where young people are having sexual contact we need to ensure they know about contraception and understand the consequences so they can make educated choices."

A spokeswoman for the council said 100 teens flocked to the bus on its first outing to the seafront last Friday.

But some local parents are aghast at the bus scheme.

Wendy Hodge, 48, who has a 12-year-old daughter, said: "I'm horrified at this sex bus scheme.

"By giving away free condom holders and providing somewhere to go for teenagers to get checked out after thay have had sex is only going to encourage promiscuity.

"I want my daughter to maintain her innocence for as long as possible and not be exposed to talk of sexually transmitted diseases or be handed a free condom.

"Quite apart from anything else, the beach is packed full of families on a Friday evening.

"Young children are naturally curious and it's going to put parents in a very awkward position when they have to explain what this bus is there for."

The campaign group the Family Education Trust also criticised the campaign and said there was no evidence to suggest providing free contraception reduced the rate of teenage pregnancies.

Director Norman Wells said: "How much more public money is going to be wasted before the government wakes up to the fact that bombarding young people with information about contraception and offering them free hand-outs is no way to address the sexual health crisis among teenagers?

"The "safer sex" message is abandoning young people to the heartache and misery of a series of broken relationships and exposing them to the risk of disease and mental health problems.

"The answer does not lie in yet more sex education and contraceptive schemes that normalise casual sex.

"Instead we need to start being honest with young people and telling them that the only sure way of avoiding infection is to keep sexual intimacy within the context of a lifelong, mutually faithful relationship with an uninfected partner.

"There is not a shred of evidence to show that ignorance of contraception is responsible for high rates of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

"Young people have never had more information about contraception and yet the more money that has been invested in contraceptive education, the higher sexually transmitted infection rates have risen."

Teenagers will be tested for chlamydia using a urine sample, which will then be sent to a laboratory for testing.

It is thought the scheme costs the taxpayer £1,500 and comes at a time the government looks to strip free bus-passes for millions of pensioners in a cost-cutting move.

The multi-purpose bus is also used for other youth programmes throughout the week. ( telegraph.co.uk )