TWENTY traders from Darwen Three Day Market called a 'crisis meeting' tonight to discuss their future.

Traders said they were been forced to take the measure because they had no confidence in the management, there were a lack of customers, empty stalls and a fall in revenue.

The meeting was led by Clive Wilson, who has run six stalls on the market since it opened in the 1970s.

Mr Wilson said: "Our overall object is to make a living and to provide a service for the town.

"At the moment that is not happening.

"Customers see empty stalls and ask if the market is closing.

"We need to know if it is closing down and, if it isn't, then we need to do something to make it full again.

"We want answers.

"They're not running this market like a business.

"The management is top-heavy and money spent on their wages could be spent running this place rent-free for a year."

During the hour-long meeting held in the Three Day Market building, which adjoins the five-day market hall off The Circus, the traders decided that they will put their concerns and questions in a letter to the head of the market at Blackburn with Darwen Council.

Among their concerns is the two-hour parking restriction on the market carpark and the lack of variety of products sold.

John Slater and Frank Pearson have run Bargain Tools on the market for two and a half years.

Mr Slater said: "There is too much negativity from the council.

"The rent is extortionate - we have to make £100 a day just to break even.

"We're taking 50 per cent less than we were this time last year.

"We've even had to take a stall on Rawtenstall Market two days a week and we're only making the same as this time last year by working more.

"Some days we work for less than the minimum wage.

"Ever since the new road layout was completed in town our takings have fallen because it takes people away from this part of town."

Mr Pearson said: "The management have never done anything for us.

"At Rawtenstall they've bent over backwards to make us welcome and make sure we come back.

"Part of the problem is that when they moved people out of the Redearth triangle for the new academy, they took away hundreds of people who used to come to us like a corner shop."

A spokesperson for Blackburn with Darwen Council said: "We hold regular meetings with the market traders.

"We can't comment until we know what the concerns are."