Snorers, for so long the bane of their partners’ lives, are about to get a rude awakening.

The country’s worst offenders will be attending a military-style camp in Birmingham next month designed to stamp out their annoying habit.

The snoring boot camp has been heavily oversubscribed, with more than 200 applications for only six places for sufferers and their sleep-deprived partners. Cigarettes and alcohol will be banned and the participants will be put on strict diets and training regimes.

Boot camps have been used to treat troubled teenagers, drug addicts and the obese, but this is believed to be the first one to tackle snoring.

A spokesman for the organisers, Helps Stop Snoring, a company that produces snoring relief aids, said yesterday: “Snoring can ruin lives. For some the hairdryer treatment of a boot camp is the only option.

“As part of any agreement to take part in the camp, our ‘Sergeant Major’ will inspect each guest’s bags for contraband items such as alcohol or cigarettes, both of which can make snoring worse. The aim is to provide as much advice and information as possible to the selected snorers and their families, helping them to reduce or stop the problem altogether. It’s going to be tough, but the results will be worth it.”

Among the successful applicants for the camp is a woman whose grandchildren are too embarrassed to go on holiday with her because of the noise at night.

The participants will be put through their paces by nutritionists, fitness experts and ear, nose and throat specialists. The volume of their snores will be measured on the first night of the boot camps and again at the end to monitor their improvement.

The spokesman added: “There is no one reason in particular why people snore. We will look at each case individually. This is not a trivial problem. The spouses of some snorers are at their wits’ end.

“The problem might not have been solved by the end of the weekend, but the boot camp is a springboard to success. The participants will learn lessons they will take away.”

If the weekend is judged to have been a success, there may be more camps to follow.

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