boy racer ban

tandraig

forgive me if this been covered before - did a search but didnt find anything so here goes

for the last few years my town has had a couple of hundred so called 'boy racers' congregate in Asdas car park on thursday nights. the local residents were up in arms and persuaded their very vocal councillor and the press to get involved.

the upshot is that on thursday nights the police have banned traffic through the high street and from certain points with access to Asdas.
they say that the residents and those with legitimate business (work, visiting residents etc will still have access). however, my daughter in law works in town and finishes work after the ban takes effect. my son normally picks her up in the family car (ford focus - nothing special) but after being refused entry to town now has to pick her up in his company vehicle (water company) this means that someone has to mind their son (usually me) and she really shouldnt be in the company vehicle even though he has permission from boss.
before i get to the point - even though i live locally i refused to sign petition asking for this ban.
the point being - these 'boy racers' pay their car tax like everyone else and to me have a right to drive where they like (if asda dont like them using the car parks then use their parking 'cops' to move them on). do the police have the right to do this? could this be challenged?
oh - and at the other end of town - focus has a large car park which is locked after 8.00 while asda is 24 hours. couldnt the focus car park accomodate the lads and lasses who just want to park and show off their vehicles which is what they seem to do?
another thing - its just thursday nights for gods sake - they should try living by me - a night club at end of street in residential area!! not to mention the druggies in the flats playing loud music at all hours - and the police dont give a toss!!! even about the drugs - havent seen a raid in at least a year!!!

27col

Why the hell should Asda or anyone else accommodate these people/posers. Mind you the police do not seem to have given the problem much in the way of joined up thinking.
Even if they all do have road tax and insurance, that does not give them the right to drive anywhere they like. Your main complaint seems to be the fact that the ban is affecting your family adversely. Why can a van be driven in the town centre and not a private car.

tandraig

because the police assume that my son is NOT boy racer if he is driving an RPS van and not a ford focus???? (with a two year old in back of ford focus)!!!

goldspanners

surely discrimination. if they let a van through then why not a car. its not as if he is on official buisness is it?

tandraig

my point is - the 'boy racers' pay car tax and insurance like the rest of us - doesnt that entitle them to drive where they want? if private car parks dont want them - fair enough - but surely they are entitled to drive on the public highways?

johnfarquhar74

IMHO 'Boy racers' are not welcome on any public roads. I've seen some horrific looking accidents where 'young' lads turn otherwise roadworthy fiestas/corsas/206's into worthless scrap metal. They are a danger to themselves, and more importantly, to innocent others!
However, modders are more than welcome to congregate at the local McD's and desserted retail parks. These are folk that understand, admire and love cars. What harm do they do by meeting up on a regular basis and drool over each others cars?

anewman

Lol is this Blackwood Asda? The focus car park there is specifically designed to thwart the boy racers. The speed bumps at McDonalds there are particularly nasty (due to the boy racer problems). If it is I am glad that the police have finally taken some positive action on those to$$ers as they are so annoying. Sadly I suspect they have just moved the idiots elsewhere where they are more likely to cause an accident, but hopefully the Darwin Awards will see them all right in the end. I just hope they don't take anyone innocent with them.

Firstly I would point out that Asda's car park, Focus's, and McDonald's car parks are *ALL* private property, either owned by the leaseholder or the company itself. As such they can refuse right of entry entirely legally (you wouldn't like it if I parked on your driveway and told you I had a right to).

Secondly, boy racers and modders are the scum of the earth. They drive around with no real reason, usually at excess speed for the situation, with no care for other road users, and usually make excess noise whether through their exhaust or stupid sound system which is so loud you cannot even hear the music. All they do is drive around in circles with no obvious purpose other than to show off to their mates, which harasses ordinary members of the public who just want to go shopping and get from A to B. I suggest you go when these boy racers are spinning around all the time (which hopefully they cannot anymore) and see how safe you feel.

If the boy racers want to try to recreate fast and the furious, the highway and Asda car park is not the place to be doing it. They could just as easily arrange a track day with all their mates and buy appropriate insurance for that and have a whole day of fun driving how they like with each other, without bothering anyone else. Why don't they do it?! Either they spend too much money on crap spoilers and lights from Halfords so cannot afford a track day and insurance, or they just enjoy harassing the general public causing at most extreme distress, and at the least inconvenience.

In response to your point on the noise, there's a 2 tonne piece of metal moving at speed to worry about as well - which can cause injury or damage to property. Police won't ordinarily take action on neighbours making excessive noise, there's some sort of set procedure for this but not quite sure how it works. I guess if you ask at www.nfh.org.uk there'll be some help there. The night club should have a license, might be worth checking!

darich

tandraig wrote: »

my point is - the 'boy racers' pay car tax and insurance like the rest of us - doesnt that entitle them to drive where they want??

You sure about that?
Do you really think that none of them are "fronting"?
Or that they've all declared to their insurance that their 1.2 car has a spoiler, extra lights, big exhaust, special air filter and big alloys?

And I'd agree with a couple of other posters.....they're not welcome anywhere. They almost always drive too fast, they're too noisy, inconsiderate and the cause of most accidents.

cyclonebri1

Much as I dislike the hassle caused by the boy racer type to town residents the OP has a very valid point. I live near Mansfield which was notorious in the east midlands for it's racetrack, ie, the ring road. There was a national record for circumnavigating it.

But you cannot solve a problem like this by banning a certain faction of the community because they cause the biggest problem.

If there were racial problems in a town centre would you ban all young whites or all young blacks or Asians etc, No you would not.

I agree, it should be a free world, you, or rather the police or council should not be able to make blanket bans like that:mad:

maninthestreet

Contact your local police station and ask what section of what Act of Parliament gives them the powers to arbritarily close roads in this fashion. They have the power to issue 'Section 57' notices to drivers seen to be driving anti-socially, whereby their vehicles can be seized if they are seen subsequently driving anti-socially.

anewman

maninthestreet wrote: »

They have the power to issue 'Section 57' notices to drivers seen to be driving anti-socially, whereby their vehicles can be seized if they are seen subsequently driving anti-socially.

It's a shame the police do not seem to know this!

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

But you cannot solve a problem like this by banning a certain faction of the community because they cause the biggest problem.

Well that's great if the boy racers stick "boy racer" as religion on the next census and get it officially recognised so they can claim religious discrimination. Until then they're idiots in crap cars, easily spot-able and identifiable. You have to do something to stop these idiots. I must say I like the idea of seizing their cars (especially if the end result is destruction) rather than turning them away.