DISABILITY groups have given the thumbs-up to Lancashire Police Authority's new website after being allowed to roadtest it.

New features of the police site include a facility where the contents of individual pages are read out to users.

The visually-impaired can alter the colour of the backdrop to suit their needs or the size of the text can be enlarged.

Before it went live this week, the police authority enlisted the help of Penwortham-based Galloway's Sight Advice Centre.

Ken Lonergan, who tried out the site, said: "We are delighted that the police authority has considered the needs of visually-impaired people when developing their website.

"We hope more and more companies will recognise that by complying with the Disability Discrimination Act they could be reaching thousands more people."

In the coming weeks the site will be made available to British Sign Language users.

Other features including an issue of the month' section, more questionnaires and surveys and a regular users poll.

People can use sign up to a new police e-zine on the site.

The site can be found at www.lancspa.gov.uk.