Police banning car meets/cruises?

[biggsy_]

https://www.mkfm.com/news/local-news/publics-views...

Hi all, first time poster but frequent lurker of the forum

Just wanted to know peoples opinions on this? would this be possible and how would they actually enforce this?

[TheRainMaker]

Stuff like that has been going on for years and years, it will never stop, all that will happen is the location will keep moving.

The Police do not have the resources to ticket 1000 cars at a time in one location, when was the last time you actually came across a traffic car in the last few years.

[mgtony]

Lower down on the same page, will this lot be facing a £100 fine?

[biggsy_]

TheRainMaker said:

Stuff like that has been going on for years and years, it will never stop, all that will happen is the location will keep moving.

The Police do not have the resources to ticket 1000 cars at a time in one location, when was the last time you actually came across a traffic car in the last few years.

That's why it surprised me. I don't go to them often but if I do, I rarely ever see police presence and they never enforce anything if someone is being silly.

I don't see how they could penalise someone if they're simply parked up and all legal

[Billyray911]

It will likely take the form of a court injunction in partnership with the council and police.
The West Midlands has had them in place for a while...
https://www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/parking-and-roads...
https://www.dudley.gov.uk/residents/parking-and-ro...
https://www.expressandstar.com/news/crime/2018/11/...

[Black_S3]

I think it’s little more than a good soundbite for the local councillors as every definition of car crusing seems to include something along the lines of ‘for the purpose of racing or showing off’ & the police already have multiple powers they can deal with it under if people are behaving stupidly.

If you go to one in a legal car, drive sensibly and don’t behave anti socially all the police will ever be able to do is tell you to move along.

[TheRainMaker]

Billyray911 said:

It will likely take the form of a court injunction in partnership with the council and police.
The West Midlands has had them in place for a while...
https://www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/parking-and-roads...
https://www.dudley.gov.uk/residents/parking-and-ro...
https://www.expressandstar.com/news/crime/2018/11/...

Would be interesting to know if it has made any difference, none of the fines handed out seem to be about being parked up, it's more dangerous driving etc, which are already covered.

[surveyor_101]

Black_S3 said:

I think it’s little more than a good soundbite for the local councillors as every definition of car crusing seems to include something along the lines of ‘for the purpose of racing or showing off’ & the police already have multiple powers they can deal with it under if people are behaving stupid

If you go to one in a legal car, drive sensibly and don’t behave anti socially all the police will ever be able to do is tell you to move along.

I went to a car cruise at the weekend to so what the scene was like now.

3 PSCOs turned up and did jack, anyone who did a burn out was ignored (Maybe they were reported for real police to deal with later who knows). They just said hello smiled at people and one guy got a telling off for revving his engine.

Loud music was ignored.

They just wondered round doing nothing.

[Shuvi McTupya]

surveyor_101 said:

I went to a car cruise at the weekend to so what the scene was like now.

3 PSCOs turned up and did jack, anyone who did a burn out was ignored (Maybe they were reported for real police to deal with later who knows). They just said hello smiled at people and one guy got a telling off for revving his engine.

Loud music was ignored.

They just wondered round doing nothing.

As i would hope!

[Haltamer]

The "ban" they are seeking is probably just the regular PSPO, which just means Section 59's for nuisances.

The crowd will find another industrial estate, and the cycle continues.

Meets and cruises are very much alive; Not just "statics" as the club names would have you believe; plenty of burnouts and drifting too. I've been to one event with a few people, and a massive overdose of police, but even then, action taken was limited to people making stupid pulls in the carpark; Larger meets that I've been to (Upwards of 200 cars) will usually have a quick drive around by a police van, and maybe a few bobbies, but they usually disappear after about an hour - No action taken against the dubiously legal vehicles, weed smoking, pounding music, et al.

[biggsy_]

Haltamer said:

The "ban" they are seeking is probably just the regular PSPO, which just means Section 59's for nuisances.

The crowd will find another industrial estate, and the cycle continues.

Meets and cruises are very much alive; Not just "statics" as the club names would have you believe; plenty of burnouts and drifting too. I've been to one event with a few people, and a massive overdose of police, but even then, action taken was limited to people making stupid pulls in the carpark; Larger meets that I've been to (Upwards of 200 cars) will usually have a quick drive around by a police van, and maybe a few bobbies, but they usually disappear after about an hour - No action taken against the dubiously legal vehicles, weed smoking, pounding music, et al.

Do you think it would actually change anything when police attend these meets/cruises? or is it just a front to show that they are doing something about the meets to the public?

[Olivergt]

We have a local Classic Car meet (once a month) in the west of Ireland, used to be in a supermarket car park until a few idiots got it banned. It's now in a private car park with plenty of space and a local cafe. It's actually much better at the new location, plenty of parking and a nice atmosphere.

No police involved and the Car Park owners are delighted to have us as it attracts people to their business as well, so a win win all round.

[Gareth79]

TheRainMaker said:

Billyray911 said:

It will likely take the form of a court injunction in partnership with the council and police.
The West Midlands has had them in place for a while...
https://www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/parking-and-roads...
https://www.dudley.gov.uk/residents/parking-and-ro...
https://www.expressandstar.com/news/crime/2018/11/...

Would be interesting to know if it has made any difference, none of the fines handed out seem to be about being parked up, it's more dangerous driving etc, which are already covered.

Enforcing the injunction requires a court hearing (and so a fair bit more hassle than a fixed penalty fine), although the penalties handed out have been more severe - large fines and suspended prison sentences.

It looks like the injunction would not be able to prohibit a cruise where people park up and behave impeccably, however from the wording it seems that if *one* person contravenes the specified behaviours then the *whole* cruise is illegal and all attendees breach the injunction.

[EW109]

surveyor_101 said:

They just wondered round doing nothing.

Did they wander while they wondered?

[Haltamer]

biggsy_ said:

Do you think it would actually change anything when police attend these meets/cruises? or is it just a front to show that they are doing something about the meets to the public?

It depends on the size; The first example, with three traffic + an unmarked car for a 10 car meet put a damper on things; Most people just moved on to the next meet, or hung around in McDonald's until they left.

For the larger meets, their attendance is usually blatantly ignored, or (Depending on the crowd / area; I'm thinking less selubrious parts of east london).

Come to think of it, I was at a meet on Christmas Day (Night) and a police van turned up. most people just turned their attention to who's got "big enough balls" to do something stupid in front of the police. Several people did burnouts in parking spots, then would immediately get out of the car and blend into the crowd before the police came over; Essentially they had the piss taken out of them.

One meet was moved on by the police pre-emptively cordoning off the industrial estate, similarly to the article above, but everyone just moved on to another spot; That was a good meet - someone managed to get a long flatbed transit to do a solid drift around a roundabout.

[anonymous-user]

Gareth79 said:

TheRainMaker said:

Billyray911 said:

It will likely take the form of a court injunction in partnership with the council and police.
The West Midlands has had them in place for a while...
https://www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/parking-and-roads...
https://www.dudley.gov.uk/residents/parking-and-ro...
https://www.expressandstar.com/news/crime/2018/11/...

Would be interesting to know if it has made any difference, none of the fines handed out seem to be about being parked up, it's more dangerous driving etc, which are already covered.

Enforcing the injunction requires a court hearing (and so a fair bit more hassle than a fixed penalty fine), although the penalties handed out have been more severe - large fines and suspended prison sentences.

It looks like the injunction would not be able to prohibit a cruise where people park up and behave impeccably, however from the wording it seems that if *one* person contravenes the specified behaviours then the *whole* cruise is illegal and all attendees breach the injunction.

They're looking at a Public Space Protection Order, not an injunction.

[eliot]

mgtony said:

Lower down on the same page, will this lot be facing a £100 fine?

Raises £50k for Willen Hospice, plus I doubt a bunch of flat-capped duffers are going to cause any alarm and distress - but yes, the irony is strong given it's on the very same page!

[Black_S3]

Gareth79 said:

Enforcing the injunction requires a court hearing (and so a fair bit more hassle than a fixed penalty fine), although the penalties handed out have been more severe - large fines and suspended prison sentences.

It looks like the injunction would not be able to prohibit a cruise where people park up and behave impeccably, however from the wording it seems that if *one* person contravenes the specified behaviours then the *whole* cruise is illegal and all attendees breach the injunction.

I guess it kind of becomes a guilt by association
type thing as if the behaviour starts and you stay there watching or encouraging it then you have become part of the behaviour.

Kind of feels like I’ve been living under a rock on this one as I thought the problem cruises died out mid 2000s and that silly driving in built up areas especially with pedestrians about had become as socially unaccepted as drink driving.

[V8RX7]

It's ridiculous - it's been in force in Bham and Solihull for many years

I still go to many Car Club and Classic Car meets and obviously there is no issue and no police presence

However if you speed on your way to / from or with a mate or someone keeps up - then you may be subject to a far harsher sentence than doing exactly the same thing, elsewhere.

[feef]

There's a Public Space Protection Order on the car park where we hold our monthly meet in St Neots. The order states that groups of more than 2 vehicles cannot congregate in the carpark and it applies 24hrs a day.

As a monthly car enthusiast meet up, we're also 'official' with the council in that they have my name as an official contact and know where and when we meet. They also acknowledge that there have been no complaints about behaviour from our attendees. In setting it up, they recognised that we're technically in breach of their own PSPO, but also recognise that the PSPO was not brought into force due to behaviour from our attendees but from the 'boy racers' (terminology used in the PSPO itself) making a nuisance of themselves at anti-social hours.

So on the one hand, it can seem heavy handed, but on the other, our monthly meet shows that we don't always all get tarred with the same brush.