Recently, Waterloo Place has been plagued with anti-social behaviour by "boy" racers, who frequently gather late at night sporting their high-performance cars. We are witnessing loud engine revving, dangerous driving, cars mounting pavements and aggressive behaviour by the organisers.
Local residents are rightfully concerned, with some car meets reaching over 100 participants, blocking lanes of traffic, performing doughnuts and setting off fireworks well into the early hours of the morning. The recent gathering was so disruptive that it received national coverage.
We are very grateful for the hard work of the existing police teams. However, our local Safer Roads Team (SRT) has lost its £25k annual funding - restricting its ability to provide an operational response and tackle the car clubs, that will be encouraged by this action. Cllr Mark Shearer explains:
"Car clubs meet in Waterloo Place, around midnight and drive dangerously. They cut chains and come onto the island, doing doughnuts and backfiring their engines. We've had lots of enforcement, with lots of fines undertaken. But we are worried because the Met Police have now rescinded the funding for the Safer Roads Team (SRT). We need our special response team back up and running and the funding back in place, so we can continue to enforce against these car clubs."
We are calling on the TfL and The Met, overseen by the Mayor, to re-commit funds to SRT, so they can disrupt, deter and prosecute the criminals.
By working together, we can increase police numbers and tackle this growing menace.
Please support our campaign to Stop Illegal Car Clubs in Waterloo Place.
