Sussex Police issued a record 662 on-the-spot fines in the last three months of 2005.

The figure was three times the number issued during the entire previous 18 months. The earlier low-level use of the £50 or £80 fixed penalties was highlighted in the Commons this week.

Ministers gave new powers for police to give instant fines to under-18s who try to buy alcohol, along with bar staff and shopkeepers who serve them. But Government figures revealed Sussex Police issued an average of just two a month.

The total given out for the five new offences was only 22 between November 2004 and September last year. Nationally, 1,316 have been handed out.

Critics seized on the figures, revealed in a written Parliamentary answer, as proof the policy was an unworkable "gimmick".

But latest figures from Sussex show a huge surge in the use of the fines.

A spokeswoman said: "Some 662 offenders stopped on the streets of Sussex received penalty notices of £50 or £80 in the last three months of 2005.

"Officers issued three times as many penalty notices on the street during the period than they issued in the previous 18 months.

"Of the 1,418 penalty notices issued during our Enough is Enough campaign before Christmas, 662 of these were issued on the street with the rest at custody centres. These were issued for drunk and disorderly, criminal damage, theft, alcohol related offences and those under the Public Order Act.

"This compares with nearly 4,000 tickets being issues in Sussex from April, 2004, to the start of the pilot, of which only 200 were issued on the street in those 18 months."

Inspector Chris Collins, of the force Criminal Justice Department, said: "The use of penalty notices has meant more officers on the street at peak times and enabled them to challenge and deal with low level, anti-social and nuisance offending.

"The use of penalty notices in custody and on the street has now been accepted as 'business as usual' although their use is being carefully monitored to ensure that quality is always improving and that the full benefits of the scheme are realised."