Sports minister Richard Caborn on Thursday met UEFA chiefs and told them they are being too soft on racism in football.

Caborn met UEFA chief executive Lars-Christer Olsson and communications director William Gaillard in London - and expressed his view that fining clubs or national associations over racist incidents is inadequate.

In December, Spain were fined £44,000 by FIFA after widespread racist abuse of England players during a friendly in Madrid.

The sports minister also raised complaints by supporters' groups, who have claimed English fans travelling to club matches in Europe often get a raw deal.

Caborn told the Press Association: "I told them that on racism there needs to be greater deterrents and that fines do not seem to be effective.

"There needs to be a look at how teams will be penalised for such racism, whether clubs or international teams, and I think there was a general acceptance that fines have got a very limited impact.

"There are a number of other options, such as points deductions and playing games behind closed doors, and they accepted that if we are serious about dealing with the problem then the penalties have to be reviewed."

UEFA's disciplinary case involving Chelsea was mentioned only in passing during the meeting, with Caborn saying he reiterated to club chairmen at the start of the season the importance of good behaviour on and off the pitch.

In terms of travelling fans, Manchester United have made representations to the Government on behalf of their supporters who are unhappy with their treatment at away games in some parts of Europe.

United fans' groups say there was very heavy-handed treatment by the French CRS riot police before and after their Champions League game in Lyon, while after their last game in Milan supporters were kept waiting 45 minutes in the stadium and a further 45 minutes in the car-park causing many to miss their flights home.

Caborn passed on the concerns to UEFA, but the Foreign Office is being urged to involve British embassies to a greater extent.

Manchester United communications director Phil Townsend said: "What our supporters have told us is that the treatment of away fans they see at Old Trafford and other English grounds used to dealing with European matches can be markedly different to that they experience as travellers on the continent.

"It is in everybody's interest that the Government looks at ways in which the level of protection afforded to England fans on away games is the same as that given to club fans.

"We are grateful to the sports minister for his intervention and for raising this with UEFA - and we hope this will start a process where Whitehall takes a deeper interest in the welfare of all travelling fans."