MOVES are being made to impose age restrictions on Blackburn and Darwen's black cabs after three-quarters of the vehicles failed MOT tests.

Out of 113 tests carried out on black cabs at the council's MOT service centre in Daisyfield since March this year, just 32 cabs passed first time -- 28 per cent.

Now council bosses are considering imposing age limits on the borough's 64 hackney carriages in a bid to improve standards.

And restrictions which insist on London-style Hackney cabs could be axed to allow more disabled-friendly vehicles to start picking up passengers.

Cabbies today claimed many of their vehicles were failing on minor points, such as lights being badly adjusted, and said that some vehicles were failing at the council-run centre but being passed at other MOT garages. Coun Maureen Bateson, executive member for citizen rights and consumer affairs, said today: "People need to know the vehicles are safe and, no matter how minor the fault, it is very important that it is corrected as soon as possible.

"We seem to have a very old fleet of black cabs, none is under five years old.

"An age limit on vehicles is something we will look at because we need to improve on the standard."

Only Bolton Council locally has an age limit on Hackney carriages -- five years.

Of the 64 black cabs in Blackburn and Darwen, those over five years old are tested once every four months, and those aged three to five years once every six months.

The council's licensing committee has now approved that a wide-reaching consultation looking at the hackney carriage trade can begin.

As well as consulting on an age limit on vehicles, it will look at whether other vehicles can be used as Hackney carriages, whether more Hackney carriages should be licensed, where their ranks should be and how more Hackney carriages could be enticed to working in Darwen.

Parvez Ahmed, chairman of the Blackburn and District Hackney Carriage Association, said: "The vehicles are tested every four to six months and things corrected so we don't need an age limit on our cars.

"The tests are too stringent and there have been cases of people seeing their cabs pass at one service station but fail at the authorised council one.

"New black cabs cost £27,000 and the business is only good enough to support such a cost for a few hours a week.

"It isn't like other towns where there is enough business all the time, and the taxi ranks are in the wrong places."

Amjad Shah, of Audley Range, was escorted away from the Daisyfield MOT Centre last week by police after his private hire vehicle failed its MOT.

He said: "I wouldn't leave because I knew they were wrong.

"A re-test has been done and the car is fine now. It's almost like a lottery."