IN the fourth part of the Evening Telegraph's investigation into the drinking culture in Blackburn town centre, chief reporter DAVID HIGGERSON talks to transport operators about the problems of getting up to 6,000 people - many of them the worse for drink - home after a typical Saturday night out. . .

YOU'VE had a night out, drunk too much to drive -- so how do you get home?

It's an issue which council officers and the police have been grappling with for some time: how to ensure that the hordes in the town centre get home safely.

At around 2am or 3am, Darwen Street is awash with mainly happy revellers all trying to get home. With just 60 hackney carriages -- black cabs -- allowed to stop anywhere to pick up fares, if you haven't got a private hire vehicle booked, you're in for a wait.

An obvious solution would appear to be for late-night buses to run, like they do in cities. But firms like Blackburn Transport are adamant that they aren't viable, despite up to 6,000 people coming into Blackburn town centre on a Saturday night.

Jim Hilton, operations director for the company, said: "The reason we don't run buses late into the night is because people don't use them."

He added that the buses that did run didn't suffer any problems with violence.

That could be because Blackburn Transport insisted those buses were manned by registered bouncers.

John Pilkington, from Accrington Buses, backed Blackburn Transport's stance. He said: "People just don't use the buses late at night, so trouble is very rare."

That leaves revellers with the option of getting a cab or risking a walk. Both have pitfalls, and countless cab drivers tell of being attacked simply for refusing to take a fare ... or even having the audacity to ask for one.

Mohammed Narwan, from Blackburn with Darwen Private Hire Association, said: "There is a real need for us to feel safe. CCTV in taxis has been one option for some, but that has been expensive.

"It can be a lonely job and there have been cases where drivers won't take fares to certain areas because they feel scared."

But even before you get into the cab, you have to get one. Police target Darwen Street in the early hours of the morning. A drunken misunderstanding can lead to one drinker thinking someone else has poached his cab, that can lead to a confrontation, and if the police aren't there quickly, things can turn nasty.

That's one of the reasons Blackburn with Darwen Council persuaded cab firms to launch the pioneering 'taxi marshals' scheme.

Cab firms put people on the street in busy areas, people wanting a cab home approach the marshals and they call a private hire cab specifically for them. Sayyed Osman, assistant director of regeneration at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: "It ensures people can get home safely. We want to make safe ways of getting home easy to access."

There is a real problem in Blackburn of 'illegal taxis' plying for trade late at night.