BLACKBURN Borough Transport has been called to a public inquiry to answer questions about the maintenance of its vehicles and the reliability of services.

The council-owned bus company is facing a probing from the Government's Traffic Commissioner after inspections last year.

A spokesman for the Commissioner's office said it had concerns about vehicle maintenance and the services which Blackburn Borough Transport runs.

The hearing is due to be held at Preston Town Hall on May 27 but Michael Morton, chief executive of the company, said passengers need not be alarmed.

He was unable to give a full explanation for the hearing as he was still waiting to be notified as to the full extent of the hearing.

Mr Morton added: "I am quite confident that on the engineering side, we have got on top of anything that needs addressing and when services do go wrong, we adjust our services."

According to the bus boss, Blackburn Borough Transport's services were inspected on the same day that a serious accident disrupted traffic on the roads around the M65 motorway in Blackburn.

Mr Morton said the accident, in February last year when a motorist drove the wrong way up a motorway slip-road, had caused problems for the company.

He added: "Services went completely haywire for hours that day. We did contact the Traffic Commissioner to say we were doing our best but they were monitoring our services at the time."

Blackburn Borough Transport is due to introduce more adjusted services on Monday, which Mr Morton believes will help matters further.