HUNDREDS of young revellers "could have been killed" as they drank in an overcrowded basement bar.

Fire inspectors found the capacity of the Cellar Bar, King Street, Blackburn, had been exceeded by hundreds in May, and said there could have been a stampede if a fire had broken out.

Three fire exits at the bar, popular with people in their late teens and early 20s, were blocked, and the fire alarm had not been tested. Inspectors said that if there had been a fire people would have probably been overcome before they had chance to get out.

The landlord at the time, Daniel Hook, has been fined £6,000, plus £2,000 costs, for five breaches of the fire safety rules.

The bar is now under new ownership, and fire chiefs said the new management has fully complied with safety rules.

Speaking after the case, fire safety officer Chris Caton said Hook, who lives in Blackburn, had disregarded fire safety and put the drinkers' lives at risk.

He said: "It's not acceptable to block one exit, but to block three is diabolical.

"If there had been a fire in there, people would have got stuck and I think people would have died."

Reedley Magistrates Court was told that a crew manager from Blackburn fire station had visited the premises just after midnight on May 13 after a tip-off from a concerned member of the public.

He found three of the five fire exits at the bar were blocked. Bar staff cleared two of them, but the main exit, at the side of the building, stayed locked.

The officer was unable to get into the bar as it was so crowded, so together with police he evacuated it.

Police estimated more than 600 people leaving - but the Cellar Bar's licence only allowed for 260 people plus another 100 in the beer garden.

At 1.30am they took the decision not to reopen the bar because of the danger to people's lives, and the lack of guarantees from the management that they would restrict the numbers inside.