Car meets: How underground street racing is fuelling safety fears

It's late on a Thursday night at what should be an eerily quiet industrial park on the outskirts of Gatwick Airport.

But instead the concrete loading bays are alive with the sound of squealing tyres and popping engines as cars race past spectators lining a makeshift drag strip.

This is the world of car meets, a popular - and polarising - pastime for young people that BBC South East has gained rare access to.

One attendee insists such events are merely "a community of people with a passion for cars" that have rules in place to ensure they do not disturb residents living nearby.

But car meets face crackdowns from police forces targeting antisocial driving.

Warnings have been issued across the UK over high-speed racing and dangerous stunts such as drifting and donuts at the events, which are arranged last-minute over social media and messaging platforms.

Those who attended the Gatwick meet were alerted via Instagram that police had turned up at their planned location, so had to change their route.

Participants believe the attention is unwarranted.

"If you're some boy racer... with a loud exhaust, it's dangerous," says a young driver, who did not want to be identified.

"But if you're a good enough driver, you're competent, your car's road legal, then it's all good."

A spectator says there are rules in place to prevent accidents.

"There's been times in the past where people have not followed the rules and get called out for it."

He adds that when the group is asked to leave a location, "we won't stay if we're not welcome".

The police crackdown is not just aimed at protecting local residents, but also spectators and participants, after at least four were killed in car crashes within the last two years.

In September, 300 speeding tickets were issued to drivers who gathered at a car park in Reading, while CCTV footage of a meet in Bedfordshire showed cars hurtling around a ring of spectators.

A bid to ban street racing in the Black Country will go go before the High Court this month, following the deaths of two teenagers when a car ploughed into them at a gathering in Oldbury.

Sam Harding, 20, also died in April 2022 after being hit by an Audi at a car meet in Warrington, while Connor Richards, 23, died after a crash at a meet in Scunthorpe later the same year.

As well as industrial parks, some communities, including Kilnwood Vale on the outskirts of Crawley have become car meet hotspots.

Resident Andrew Sordyll says he often hears the "constant revving of loud, high-performance engines" over the TV at night that makes his dog "cower".

"It can be frightening to some people, especially the elderly or people with young children."

The car meet here takes place just a stone's throw from homes.

Kilnwood Vale sits between two roundabouts on a dual carriageway, making it the perfect makeshift track for would-be racers.

Last year, Sussex Police shared footage of a BMW screeching around a roundabout at the edge of the housing estate.

Another resident, who did not want to be identified because he fears reprisals from meet organisers, says he fears a car could easily "lose control and go into one of the houses".

Sussex Police has a dedicated unit dealing with car meets called Operation Cruz.

Insp Michael Butler, who heads up the unit, points out tyre marks scarring the road surface towards Kilnwood Vale.

"It's just so dangerous for the people that are all standing there," he adds. "Unlike a racetrack that will have barriers on the side, medics on hand, it's so easy for a car to lose control."

He says while resources are diverted from other police work, the best way to stop the car meets is through high-visibility policing acting as a deterrent.

He has no doubt who the blame lies with. "That is the drivers' responsibility.

"If they then harm those people, it's not even just about going to prison. It's about the impact on all those people's lives."

Those who attend the events say the attraction is clear. The driver at the Gatwick meet says "you get a lot of attention, [and] a bit of testosterone" from taking part.

Although some car enthusiasts are keen to distance themselves from these nomadic meets.

At static meets, fanatics meet up in public spaces but don't drive around.

Katie Hazelden, 21, organises the Torque Terrors meets in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. She says it's an alternative to going out drinking.

"It's kind of like a catch-up for people interested in cars, essentially just meeting up seeing what new things they've done to their car."

But she worries illegal driving at more active meets gives her events "a bad name".

"It's affecting all static meets. As soon as [the police] see a gathering of cars, they ask them to move," she says.

It's a thought echoed by one of the static meets oldest participants, 73-year-old Joy.

"It's a shame that there isn't somewhere to go where we can just take our cars and just enjoy revving them up and hearing the exhaust," she says.

But property managers at Fountains Retail Park, where the group meets, say it is not permitted.

Kent Police confirmed a dispersal order had been issued ahead of a planned meet at the site last November, although it is unclear who the organiser was.

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