A PROMINENT businesswoman is calling for measures to be taken to make Burnley a safer place after her son was assaulted for the second time in two years.

Angela Batty, the president-elect of the Burnley and District Chamber of Trade, said she now fears for the safety of young people after her son Steven Brady was assaulted on Wednesday.

Steven, 14, was walking in Parliament Street in the Burnley Wood area with his friend Jason McBride.

The two boys were making their way to the cinema in Manchester Road when they were followed by three other youths. Steven and Jason, 13, were assaulted in an attack lasting for almost five minutes.

It was only after the intervention of a passer-by that the attack came to a stop. Both boys needed hospital treatment for cuts and bruises. Steven, a pupil of All Saints RC School in Rawtenstall, said: "One boy hit me in the face and another hit me on the back of the head.

"It went on for about five minutes, when someone shouted from across the road they ran off."

Mrs Batty said she will no longer allow Steven to walk from their home to the town centre. She said: "I would not think anyone would even think about doing something like this.

"The first I heard about it was a phone call from the police. I won't let him go into Burnley without a specific reason now, and I will drive him there."

Steven was also attacked in Burnley two years ago and suffered facial injuries.

The issue of violence in Burnley town centre is now due to be added to the agenda of the next meeting of the Burnley and District Chamber of Trade in June.

"I am not very happy about the state of Burnley as a safe place for anyone at the moment. I will raise this with the Chamber of Trade to see if there is anything we can do about it.

"I want to see Burnley become a safer place, but I don't know how that can be achieved. The police have a very, very difficult job to do."

A Lancashire Constabulary spokesman said it was investigating an alleged assault and was due to interview the two boys later today.