NOT many people would be surprised to learn that some mechanically dodgy cabs were running around an inner city area like the back streets of Manchester or Salford.

Even in Blackburn and Burnley unannounced checks by police and council officers at peak times such as Friday and Saturday evenings have uncovered offenders.

But it does come as a shock to learn that in the rural Ribble Valley more than half the hackney and private hire vehicles stopped during random spot checks had some sort of defect.

Faulty tyres, broken mirrors and lights, broken seat belts, damaged fuel caps and insecure batteries were some of the problems discovered.

Four of the 20 cabs caught in the blitz were ordered off the road until faults were rectified and another was judged to be in such a state that police ordered the removal of its taxi plates altogether.

This proportion of problems in a comparatively wealthy district which, for example, has only 49 licensed hack carriages anyway is a matter of serious concern.

It is worrying to think what injuries could be caused to passengers if a driver had to break suddenly in a country lane in a cab with defective tyres and broken seat belts.

A meeting at Ribble Valley Town Hall also heard claims that a number of taxi hire firms are operating in the Ribble Valley without licences and passengers in them are quite likely to be uninsured if an accident occurs.

What's puzzling though is if this is the case why have the unlicensed cabs and their drivers not been caught and prosecuted?

The Ribble Valley doesn't have the traffic-clogged streets of a major city and unlicensed cabs have to operate from a phone number which is freely available to members of the public or they would not get any customers.

For safety's sake unlicensed and dodgy cabs must be put off the district's road now.