POTHOLE police are to take to the streets of East Lancashire in a bid to reduce the number of accidents on the county's roads.

A hit squad of six officers are to patrol the area looking for potholes, damaged paving and misaligned kerbs which people could injure themselves on.

The moves comes after it was revealed Lancashire County Council paid out nearly £6million in insurance claims last year.

They expect that figure to rise to £15million in years to come.

The authority has now allocated £1million and hired private firm Capita to carry out the services.

The company, based in India Mill, Darwen, has created hundreds of jobs in the borough and already handles many of Blackburn with Darwen Council services as well as providing a call centre for the BBC's TV licensing department and the Criminal Records Bureau.

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said: "Under this scheme, officers from Capita will go out and check our roads for faults.

"They will be reported to our repairs department and they will then ensure that the work is carried out quickly.

"Third party liability claims are rising and we hope that this new scheme will help reduce the number of claims and prevent people injuring themselves."

Potholes more than 50mm deep will be filled in within 24 hours of being spotted under the plan.

Those between 20mm and 50mm deep will be filled within a week.

Three teams of two people will tour roads looking for faults. One will drive while the other looks at the road.

Busy town centre roads take priority, while rural and less-used roads will take a lower precedent.

Steve Robinson, a director for Capita, said: "It is a five-year contract which should lead to the roads being in a better state of repair." At the same time, the county council has vowed to scrutinise every single claim they get in a bid to weed out false claims.

The rise in the number of no win, no fee claims has been blamed for a rise in the council's annual excess on their insurance policy.

Along with effects of September 11, it is predicted to rise from its current £6million to nearer £15million, effectively making the authority self-insuring.

Blackburn with Darwen Council is also launching more regular inspections, while its highways maintenance budget is being prioritised in areas where faults in the road have caused a high number of claims.