POLICE are hunting a taxi driver who indecently assaulted two 13-year-old girls in the back of his cab.

The man drove to a secluded spot late on Sunday night and subjected the girls to a terrifying hour-long ordeal.

The girls were on their way home to Burnley after visiting a friend in Nelson when they got into the taxi at a rank outside the Clayton Arms pub at 10.30pm.

Detectives believe the man drove along the Fence by-pass and stopped in a lay-by on Greenhead Lane.

After the attack he drove to Daneshouse, two miles from the girls' homes, and pulled up, some time between midnight and 12.30pm, at Whalley Street, where the girls called out to two youths walking by.

"We need them to come forward and help our investigation," said Detective Constable Mike Morris.

"The girls got out of the taxi and ran to the nearest house for help."

Police also think taxi drivers might know who the attacker is. When the girls got into the taxi, the driver told them he needed to ask his boss before he took them. He spoke to the driver of the taxi behind him in the queue before setting off.

The attacker was Asian, about 40, small in height but large in build, balding, unshaven and had a beauty spot on his left cheek. His taxi was red with a white stripe down the side, and he spoke only broken English.

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