BURNLEY Council is to crack down on cowboy cabbies who do a roaring trade picking up passengers from outside town centre pubs and night clubs.

People who travel in bogus taxis or private hire vehicles touting for business in the street are uninsured if they are involved in an accident.

The move has the backing of the Private Hire Drivers' Association which blamed the council for the problem for not taking tougher action before.

Members of Burnley Council executive were told they were to blame for the problem because they had not been tough enough.

An Association spokesman said it was the public who needed to be aware of the problem as the genuine drivers were aware of the law.

He called for a concerted campaign of public education, informing people of the need to pre-book private hire vehicles

The Association wanted the abolition of the system in which yellow stickers were put on the side of vehicles with the warning: "Private Hire Vehicle insurance invalid unless you book this vehicle with a Private Hire Firm." It claims the stickers damaged paintwork.

Executive member for public safety, Charles Bullas, said after the meeting: "We were criticised for not doing the job of enforcement.

"We have just started a new part time enforcement officer and we are going to step up our action. We are very concerned about cowboy drivers. It is a big problem because they are picking up from outside night clubs."

Coun Bullas said the yellow sticker requirement had been suspended at the time of the recent racial disturbances in the town because it made the vehicles so recognisable.

Now drivers were concerned at the possible backlash against Muslims as a result of the terrorist attacks in America. Coun Bullas said: "We have agreed to suspend the requirement while the situation is on-going."

The Association also claimed that the MoT testing system was unfair against private hire vehicles. They are tested three times a year and Hackney Carriage black cabs only twice.

The executive decided to make no change to the arrangements expressing concerns at the high number of vehicles which failed the test.

They also decided to ask the overview and scrutiny committee to review the vehicle age restriction policy because of the high failure rate of vehicles over six years old.