MARSHALS will help revellers get a taxi home this Christmas, say police.

Marshals will be on duty at The Cross in Worcester at busy times over the festive period and will supervise the smooth running of taxi rank area.

The new scheme has been organised by South Worcestershire police, the Safer Worcester Partnership and taxi drivers as part of NightSafe.

The trained marshals will be on hand at busy times to ensure people queue in an orderly manner and are not "excessively drunk".

The marshals will also remind people that no food or drink is allowed in taxis and to make sure taxi passengers have enough money to pay for the journey. Sgt Tanya Beckett, co-organising the marshal scheme with Safer Worcester Partnership’s Jude Langton, said: “The scheme aims to make the experience of getting a taxi even safer and easier than before and to avoid any unnecessary disputes as a result of misunderstandings or unacceptable behaviour by the minority."

Taxi marshals will wear high visibility jackets and identification badges. They will all have radio links to police officers and CCTV operators, as well as each other.

Taxi marshalling will be piloted at The Cross between 10pm and 3am on Thursday, December 11, Friday December 12, Thursday, December 18, Friday, December 19 and Saturday, December 20 and Saturday, December 27.

The pilot will run at the same time as Operation Christmas Presence, a force-wide campaign aimed at tackling alcohol related crime that was launched yesterday at the Guildhall, Worcester, at 11am.