SCHOOL taxis have been taken off the road after police discovered they were unsafe.

Operation Coachman Two was devised to crack down on the number of unsafe council commissioned vehicles used to transport children to and from schools.

Police Sergeant Martin Bishop ran the operation, which targeted 31 vehicles over two days in Burnley and Pendle.

The overall findings showed the safety of school buses had improved but concerns arose over the safety of school taxis.

Out of the 31 vehicles checked, eight were given prohibition notices and three had to be taken off the road immediately.

Five vehicles were found to have minor faults in the operation from June 7 to June 8.

Sgt Bishop said: "Six taxis were issued with prohibition notices in one day.

"There were other issues from the taxis, from not wearing identity badges to not carrying fire extinguisher and first aid kits, which are basic requirements."

These checks followed an Operation Coachman in May, which was a national campaign to crackdown on unsafe buses, mini buses and coaches that are used to transport school children, but did not include school taxis.

A spokesman for the county council, who commission the school vehicles, said the council were worried about the findings of the safety of school taxis.

He said: "We work closely with the police and we will be looking closely at the findings and investigating further.

"The safety of school children and all our public transport users is very important to us and we aim to get involved with more operations like Operation Coachman to make sure the services we commission are as safe as possible and complying with all safety regulations."

Sgt Bishop said: "The operation details are being passed on to the taxi enforcement officer.

"A follow-up operation to address these issues will take place in the near future."