THE gridlock chaos created in Blackburn town centre by a taxi drivers' wildcat protest over tough new safety tests was as disgraceful as it was selfish and spiteful.

For whatever their beef with the council, they have no right to lash out at the public. Nor to break the law.

Yet it was with shameful vindictiveness that they did that last night.

For their self-seeking demonstration "crawl" was timed to hurt as many innocent people as possible.

In their hundreds, they chose the height of the rush hour and the busiest shopping night of the year to bring Blackburn to a halt.

The upshot was a two-hour nightmare of delay, disruption and anger.

But, of course, they are not looking for public sympathy. They are simply trying to blackmail the council.

They want to terrorise them into backing down over the new safety restrictions.

Well, of course, we all know the standards many drivers have over safety. In a word: abysmal.

That has been proved time and again when spot-check swoops have netted cowboys driving vehicles not fit to be on the road.

And who in their right mind would let them dictate to the travelling public what the safety standards should be?

All they have demonstrated so far is that the council cannot be too strict in its crackdown.

There should be no backing down, especially not in the light of this sort of disgraceful mob behaviour.

For that reason, the police should root out the ringleaders and the courts should make an example of them.

And the council should strip the licences of those convicted.

That is the kind of dialogue they have asked for - and the only sort they deserve.

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