Cabs sorted -- now for the drivers

And that, surely, is the upholding of every taxi users' right to travel in a safe, clean, comfortable and properly-driven vehicle -- and even to expect courteous service at the same time.

But it is not the case that the customer is always right and council officers operating this scheme must bear in mind that -- as is the experience of many a driver -- cabbies are prone to abuse by troublesome passengers, particularly those who have been drinking.

As a result, officials must have an even-handed approach when responding to complaints -- especially as, at the outset, evident resistance among many cabbies suggests they fear that many passengers may complain simply for the sake of it.

Yet, despite this caveat, the council is right to seek even better regulation of taxi and private hire businesses. Down the years, it has spent considerable effort in dragging it from its abysmal past -- when, with licences issued almost willy-nilly to drivers of clapped-out vehicles, the trade was plagued by cowboy operators risking the safety of passengers and ruining the reputation of the decent ones. And proof of this has been shown again and again in safety swoops revealing frightening levels of dangerous vehicles being used as cabs.

Now, with much firmer standards set and insisted upon, it is right that the initiative is kept up by making the public the eyes and ears of council regulators. The fact that, in Blackburn and Darwen alone, there are 700 drivers licensed to work in the private hire and taxi trade demonstrates what difficulties the council faces in monitoring the business -- and proves the need for the sort of extended supervision that this scheme offers,

And when the potential for abuse is taken into account, it should work for the benefit of both passengers and the trade -- if cowboy operators are the ones rooted out by it.