A TAXI driver is claiming police ignored his plea for help in catching the vandal who smashed his windscreen because they feared a riot.

Stephen Thomas, 34, claims a passenger he took to Monroe's nightclub in Great Harwood smashed his windscreen before going into the club.

Mr Thomas, of Darwen, said police were reluctant to help catch the man.

But today Great Harwood police defended their actions, saying to search the club may have led to violence.

Mr Thomas said he had picked up two men and one woman outside the Roxy in Darwen.

"I took them to Monroe's in Great Harwood at about twenty to three. They went into Monroe's but one of them punched my windscreen as he got out of the car.

"They have cracked the left hand upper corner of the windscreen.

"I went to the police station in Great Harwood. They refused to go in and look for them because they said it would probably start a riot."

Mr Thomas then went to Darwen police station where he was told the same thing and was advised to simply claim on his insurance for the damage.

But Mr Thomas said he discovered his insurance would not cover the damage and said his only hope of recovering the money was to make a civil claim against the culprit. Inspector Bob Ford, of Great Harwood Police, said he had spoken to Mr Thomas and explained the situation to him.

"He was advised that were we to send officers into the club it could provoke some difficulty in terms of disorder," said Inspector Ford.

"When you go into a place like that you have to put the lights on and it could take half an hour to find him, if he was still in there to begin with.

"It was agreed that going in wasn't sensible. Mr Thomas doesn't agree with that and I acknowledge that."

He said if Mr Thomas wished to make a complaint against the police he could do so but it was an operational decision.

"We would have had to secure the premises and search it which in real terms was not practicable," he said.

"It the same thing happened again I can't imagine that our reaction would be a great deal different.

"We listened carefully to him and we took crime details and we have tried to help him as much as we can but the reality is that the chances of tracing the culprit without causing disorder were low."

Inspector Ford said inquiries into the incident were continuing, and officers planned to examine CCTV film which might have caught the culprit.

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