BLACKBURN town centre will become a giant taxi rank in a bid to reduce violence by whisking revellers home at the end of the night.

The trial, known as Operation Indigo, will see extra private hire companies drafted in this weekend to stop frustrated drinkers fighting while waiting for a lift home.

Two roads will be closed to traffic in the early hours of Saturday and Sunday, creating a one-way "taxi-only" loop.

The system will allow private hire vehicles to queue for fares in the Darwen Street area and get away quickly along St Peter's Street and Market Street Lane.

The scheme has been welcomed by taxi operators but town centre pubs supremo Margo Grimshaw said she was sceptical about whether it would work.

She said: "If young people go out at night they go for a drink and sex. And lads aren't going home until all hope is gone, so they hang around on Darwen Street hoping "she" will pass."

Between 1.30am and 3.30am at weekends, up to 2,000 people descend on the area looking for food from one of the many takeaways and a ride home.

But because there are only two private hire firms in the street, Silverline and Golden Line, it can take people up to two hours to get a taxi.

Revellers' frustration has caused Darwen Street to become the number one crime hot spot in the town centre.

Since April there have been 171 crimes in the early hours, the majority being fights and public order offences.

The new scheme follows a police and Blackburn with Darwen Council investigation into the problem.

Previously, private hire vehicles were unable to take revellers home without being booked as it is illegal to flag them down.

Astley Gate, running alongside Debenhams into Darwen Street, will now be closed and Darwen Street will also be blocked off from the junction of St Peter's Street to Jubilee Street.

Taxis will travel through Fleming Square wait in line outside the cathedral grounds and in St Peter's Street - where taxi marshals will create 'take me home' points for revellers to queue.

Private hire bosses have said their prices may go up by 50p to cover the cost of looping around the town centre to get back on track through Blackburn Boulevard.

Maqsood Khan, of the borough's hackney carriage association, said: "I think that anything the police do to alleviate and deter anybody committing crime is great.

"We will be going down Darwen Street as well as the private hire companies.

"We are totally opposed to taxi marshals but that's the council's policy at the moment and we have to go with it."

Zahid Mahmood, owner of Pyramid takeaway in Darwen Street, said: "We will have to wait and see how it goes. I think it will affect business a little bit but the trouble is not that bad at the moment."

Sergeant Rachel Hanley, in charge of town centre policing, said: "We would like to try this as a trial period in partnership with the council this weekend in an attempt to reduce violent crime and also the risk of accidents in Darwen Street."

Coun Andy Kay, council executive member for regeneration, said: "If this is successful we would aim to continue the scheme."