A scheme which guarantees safe door-to-door transport for teenage girls and women is urging people to get in contact.

Safe Rider issued the plea yesterday and simultaneously Cllr Barry Thorne said the council would be stepping-up park ranger patrols in that area.

Safe Rider's company secretary Pat Schofield said: "Women living in the Lund Park district understandably are going to be extremely frightened of going out alone after dark. We want them to know we are here and, although our service is extremely popular and very busy, we will always accommodate people."

Safe Rider - which is funded jointly by Bradford council and Keighley's Single Regeneration Budget - operates two mini-buses a night, Monday to Saturday, from 6-11.30pm.

Trained drivers collect passengers from their homes to take them to their destination and then deliver them safely back afterwards.

Places on the service, which covers the whole of the Keighley area and is open to any women travelling alone, must be booked in advance by phoning 611800, between 6-8pm, Mondays to Saturdays. There is a £1 return fare for Passport to Leisure card holders, and £1.75 for others.

Cllr Thorne, who lives at Nashville Terrace only a few hundred yards from Lund Park, said: "It is an extremely worrying situation and the council for its part will do what it can to help allay public fears," he said..

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