In recent weeks, I have been receiving an increasing number of complaints from the public about dangerous "Car Cruises" on main roads around the two counties. These events see dozens or even hundreds of cars suddenly congregate on a main road to race each other at illegally high speeds. This is not only illegal, but also dangerous. Innocent passersby have been forced off the road, hit by vehicles out of control and injured - elsewhere in the country people have been killed.
I have spoken to the Chief Constable to ask that immediate and effective action is taken to deal with this scourge.
We can now confirm that the police are working with local Community Safety Partnerships to get civil injunctions in place to enable effective civil law action to be taken - which is much quicker and more certain than the criminal law prosecutions we would ideally want to see.
Of note, we have issued in the region of 170 warning letters to owners of the vehicles which have been identified as present at car cruises. Only5 of these vehicles have returned, so there appears to be a deterrent.
Officers are tasked on late shifts Saturday and Sunday to patrol the areas where car cruising takes place as analysis shows this is when the cruises tend to occur. Road Policing Units are also involved - though their precise role is being kept secret for now. The police officers in the worse affected areas - North West Leicestershire, Charnwood, Hinckley and Blaby ae now working together to form a joined up approach to dealing with this problem.
Repeat offenders are being prosecuted. Just last week one driver was found guilty of careless driving, and two other prosecutions are in the pipeline.
