A GROUND-breaking taxi marshal scheme is to help late-night revellers get home safely and prevent the threat of sex attacks.

The high-profile staff will use mobile phones to book cabs and ease the queues of people waiting for a black Hackney carriage.

The pioneering scheme -- the first of its kind in the country -- will aim to stamp out the spiralling problem of private hire cabs breaching their licence by touting for trade on Blackburn's streets.

It will also tackle the risk from bogus taxi drivers picking people up and subjecting them to sex attacks or trying to earn money illegally.

The move has been welcomed by Diana Lamplugh, who set up the Suzy Lamplugh Trust to promote personal safety after her daughter, a London estate agent, disappeared after going to show a mystery client a house.

She has now urged people using taxis to be careful following a spate of sex attacks around the country by people pretending to be taxi drivers and picking up lone revellers.

Mrs Lamplugh said: "This is an issue I have been looking at for 19 years."

Under the scheme, to be launched on Friday, six marshals from local taxi firms will be stationed in busy areas of Blackburn town centre from midnight.

They will use mobile phones to contact private hire firms and book a ride for people who are often stuck for up to an hour waiting for a black cab -- the only taxis legally allowed to pick passengers up in the street.

Taxi firms believe the staffing costs will be paid for by the extra business generated.

The idea, backed and part funded by Blackburn with Darwen Council, was thought up by Uman Talaty, owners of AB cab firm, Dickens Street, Blackburn.

Staff have been given training on how to deal with aggressive customers. Mr Talaty said: "We want people to get home safely. There aren't enough black cabs but people can't just get into a private hire vehicle unless they have booked it.

"There are 200 to 300 private hire drivers based on the outskirts of the town who never come into the town centre at night because no-one has booked them.

"The staff we are using know many of the drivers, and will take down details of suspicious cabs or taxis picking up people who haven't booked them."

Coun Maureen Bateson, the council's executive member for citizens' rights and consumer affairs, today said the service was designed to complement the existing black cab trade, not replace it. Marshals will initially be put in place in bright orange jackets on the junction between Darwen Street and Church Street, and outside the O'Neills and the Grapes area by Northgate.

They will operate until the early hours on Friday and Saturday nights.

Coun Bateson said: "These marshals will be easily identifiable offering peace of mind and reassurance to clubbers.

"There have been worrying incidents in other parts of the country which we don't want to see here involving bogus taxi drivers picking people up."

A police spokesman said: "We welcome any move by the council to make using the town centre at night safer. This is a good way of preventing crime."