PARENTS were today reassured by nightclub bosses after violence erupted after a teenage night at a town centre nightclub.

Fights broke out around midnight last Thursday outside the Utopia nightclub in Lord Square, Blackburn, at the end of a dance session for teenagers.

Police were called to to break up the gangs while distressed parents hid behind their cars.

Manageress Emma Stansfield said the disturbances were nothing to do with the club or people who had been in it.

A police spokesman confirmed that officers attended.

He said: "This is not something that we have had problems with previously. There have been problems outside Utopia with kids driving around fast in cars and loitering in the car park.

" But there has not been anything linked with this disco before."

Lynda Posteraro of Sandringham Road arrived to collect her two sons Anthonio, 14 and Nathan, 12, but was horrified by what she saw.

"I could not believe my eyes," she said. "It was a nightmare. People were racing around the car park and fighting.

"There seemed to be two gangs and some were spinning round the car park in cars. It left me shaking."

The night has been running at the club for about a year to answer a rising demand for a non-alcohol night for teenagers.