Wokingham Borough Council seeks views on unauthorised car meets

Members of the public are being asked for their views on anti-social car meets.

Wokingham Borough Council has launched a survey after 82 unauthorised meets were reported by Thames Valley Police.

A statement from the authority says it is considering public spaces protection orders as a response to the incidents.

If created, the order would see anyone who does not comply fined up to £1,000 or receive a fixed penalty notice of up to £100.

It comes after residents protested in Carnival Pool car park, saying the location was "plagued" by meets and car cruisers were accused of assaulting residents in a Sainsbury's car park in Bracknell.

The most common places for the meets, according to the authority, also include the Mereoak Park and Ride near Three Mile Cross and supermarket car parks across the borough.

The council statement says the meets "often involve" dangerous driving, racing, aggressive acceleration and braking, sounding horns, playing loud music, foul language and threatening behaviour.

Thames Valley Police recorded 82 incidents of this nature between January 2021 and January 2022.

Wokingham Borough Council has since launched an online survey, which will run until 19 July, with a view to adopting a car cruising Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO), which would give it greater power to tackle the issues.

It is also asking residents to explain how they have been affected by the car meets and how they would like it to be resolved.

Councillor Ian Shenton said: "We want to ensure Wokingham borough continues to be a safe place for our residents and the behaviour associated with these car meets completely goes against that.

"Some of the people who attend these gatherings show little or no regard for the people around them and we want to send a clear message that we are serious about tackling this extremely anti-social behaviour."

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