VIOLENCE against Asian taxi drivers has broken out again in Colne.

Police had hoped they had stamped out attacks after their crackdown last year, but said the new spate of incidents marked a worrying new trend.

In the latest incident two men threw stones and shouted racist abuse at Eagle Star taxis, Dockray Street, on Friday night, and on Saturday a driver was punched in the face when he stopped to fill his taxi at North Valley service station.

Stones were also thrown at cabs as they waited at traffic lights at the junction between Vivary Way and Crown Way.

In one of these incidents, at 7.45pm on Friday, a passenger was in the car when a large stone was hurled from behind a wall, smashing through a back window.

At the petrol station, at 9.20pm on Saturday, four drunk youths aged 17 or 18 shouted at a driver before one of them punched him.The attack was captured on CCTV.

Pendle Taxi Association chairman Mohammad Akram said the surge in attacks was "frightening".

He said: "It's a difficult situation but the main thing is to make sure that nobody is hurt, because in any of these incidents someone could have been injured.

"The taxi association condemns this kind of behaviour by young thugs who target taxi drivers and their vehicles."

He added that firms were still holding monthly meetings with police and working closely with both officers and Pendle Council.

Attacks against taxi drivers have become a regular problem in the town over the past two years.

In the run-up to Christmas, police officers used a cab from one of the taxi firms to drive round and try to catch people in the act if they threw stones.

Sergeant Jon Fryer said this had been successful then and would be used again, while all incidents would be thoroughly investigated. He said: "Although we don't think the same people are behind all of these incidents, it would appear that they are not random attacks."

"Our crackdown last time was successful and the number of attacks went down so we will be doing the same things again because four incidents in two days suggests a worrying trend."

l Two Colne men have been arrested in connection with the racist abuse at Eagle Star and are being questioned.