A NEW scheme designed to make making travelling by taxi safer has been launched in Burnley.

The Homesafe scheme is aimed at people who frequent pubs and clubs in the town centre and who use either hackney carriage or private hire cars to get home.

A six-page credit card sized booklet has been produced by the town's Alcohol Action Group, part of the Burnley Community Safety Partnership, whose aim is to reduce crime in the borough.

The booklet tells people of the proper proceedures to follow when booking private hire cars or hailing black cabs and of the signs that should be fitted to vehicles.

Also included is a list of private hire firm telephone numbers and a map of the town centre showing their location.

The booklets will be handed out to pub goers and clubbers by bar staff and doormen at licensed premises throughout the town from today.

The scheme follows Operation Faresafe, a poster campaign to raise awareness of taxi safety launched by police and council bosses earlier this year. Posters have been put up in pubs, clubs and other venues in the town.

They highlight the fact that taxi touting is a criminal offence and that taxis which have been flagged down in the street, as distinct from picked up at a taxi office or rank, are not fully insured.

The campaign had the backing of Burnley's 300-strong Private Hire Association and Hackney Carriage Associations, who said walking out of a nightclub into a taxi was no longer an option for hundreds of clubbers after they voted unanimously to outlaw touting and unofficial cab ranks outside licensed premises nearly two years ago.

The change of rules came after a teenage girl left a nightclub alone in Hammerton Street and was trying to hail a cab when she was dragged into a works yard and raped. And last year a Rossendale girl travelling from a Manchester nightclub got into an unbooked private hire cab and was subjected to a serious sexual assault.

The council's licensing officer Mick Armfield said: "This is an ideal time to launch Homesafe as there will be an influx of visitors to the Burnley area due to the Blues Festival and many may be unfamiliar with both the position of the hackney carriage stands and the numbers of private hire firms.

"This booklet has been designed to ensure that the public can travel home safely after a good night out."