Rushcliffe Borough Council ask for tighter rules on car meets

Rushcliffe Borough Council (RBC) is calling on the Home Secretary and the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government for new legislation surrounding car cruising meetings and gatherings.

The Council have passed a motion asking for a legal requirement for organisers to pre-notify the relevant authorities when they are planning to meet.

The council will also request that car meets require approval of the Police and stakeholder partnerships.

It would mean that where a car cruising meeting is planned, if those involved failed to inform local authorities, they may be be liable to prosecution or dispersion from a car meet site.

RBC’s Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Environment & Safety Councillor Rob Inglis said: “The Borough along with other parts of the County is often affected by what are commonly known as car meets or cruisers.

“These gatherings are a cause of significant concern to many residents and constitute Anti-Social Behaviour making them a risk to public safety."

Councillor Inglis is a former traffic police officer.

“The current road traffic laws cover some aspects of this issue but are not sufficient in prevention of the problems. Therefore we need the support of central government to give Police, ourselves and partners the right tools to tackle the problem.”

"There are laws but they're usually introduced after the event when there's been a collision or fatality. We're trying to preempt that."

The council particularly want to deter 17-24 year olds from engaging with dangerous driving, as this is an age group that they say are at risk.

RBC also say retail parks end up having to build deterrent barriers as the car meets can take place on their land.

RBC will now write to Yvette Cooper MP and Angela Rayner MP to request further means are put into place to protect the safety of residents affected by the meetings to ensure they are warned when a meet takes place.