Enfield car meets face wider ban due to racing drivers

Car meet-ups could be banned across an entire north London borough, due to drivers regularly performing dangerous stunts and racing at high speeds.

Enfield Council said groups of people wanting to "show off their cars" were illegally gathering near the A10.

The authority wants to give the Met Police greater powers to stop the events.

One local councillor said residents' lives were being made "hell" by the excessive noise and backfiring.

The anti-social and sometimes illegal gatherings often take place in large car parks near the A10, where cars with illegally modified engines are used to perform moves in front of crowds of spectators.

The meetings are said to be followed by high-speed racing.

"Several hundred people meet regularly to do dangerous moves in their cars," said Adrian Day, co-ordinator of the campaign group Better Streets for Enfield.

"This is a war on the community by drivers," Mr Day said.

One local mother told BBC London she sometimes put ear muffs on her young children due to the noise of racing drivers on the A10 and that it was causing them "alarm" and "distress"

"The sirens are the worst, I think, the racer boys on the A10. They do competitions, racing."

The Met Police said it was "aware of the depth of feeling regarding these meets and the distress they cause to local residents".

So far this year on the A10 at Enfield, officers have seized 60 cars, issued more than 300 warnings to drivers and handed out more than 200 summonses for offences such as modifying exhausts, the Met said.

In February 2021, the borough council, which is Labour-controlled, introduced a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) in several locations in and around Enfield, which had the effect of banning "vehicle cruising".

The orders give the police and councils greater powers to disperse people engaged in certain activities. Those caught breaching the orders can receive penalty notices of £100.

The council said it would start a consultation process next month over the possible expansion of the PSPO across the entire borough.

Enfield Council said it had "responded to calls from residents who say their lives have been blighted by people who meet to show off their cars which often have modified and loud exhausts and race dangerously".

It said it had also asked the owners of some car parks used for meets to install barriers, which some had done.

Conservative councillor for Bush Hill Park James Hockney, who has campaigned for more action on what he said was a "chronic issue", said he supported the council's latest pledge.

"It's making residents' lives hell with all these backfiring sounds and also we have had serious injuries, accidents and fatalities on the A10, so it's about making the A10 safer and putting a stop to these unlawful car meets."

Mr Hockney, who is calling on Transport for London (TfL) to install more average-speed cameras along the A10, recently launched a petition which has been signed by more the 2,000 people.

It has since been handed to the mayor of London's office.

TfL installed a system on one section of the road in March 2020 and reduced the speed limit to 30mph (48 km/h).

It said it was "not routinely" installing new cameras but was working with London boroughs to identify "the highest-risk locations" where the use of more cameras might be appropriate.

The leader of one group of car enthusiasts, A10 Meets, whose members regularly gather in car parks in the area said they acted within the law and people wrongly had a "bad perception" of them.

Speaking to the BBC at his group's latest gathering, Andy, who did not want to give surname, said: "They're getting it totally wrong. They want to stop all car meets and they're putting everyone in the same bracket."

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