Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Police slam ‘death drivers’ as 2 cars found burnt out
Warning after ‘runarounds’ are torched
THE police have hit out at “death driving” after two cars were found burned out.
Investigations are ongoing but it is understood a line of inquiry is that one or both vehicles discovered in North Belfast were so-called “runarounds”.
The cars were torched in the Ardoyne area in two separate incidents in the wake of motors being driven erratically in the district.
The latest incident saw a car burned at the end of Kingston Court in the early hours of yesterday. At least one image of it in flames has been “doing the rounds” in the area.
PSNI Inspector Paul Noble said: “In the early hours of Saturday we received a number of calls about a car being driven erratically in North Belfast.
“As officers searched the area, we received a further call from NIFRS colleagues, alerting us to a report they had received about a silver Ford Fiesta on fire in the Havana Court area.
“Police attended alongside our Fire Service colleagues who put the fire out. In the second incident, we received a number of calls about another car being driven erratically in the Oldpark area at around 10.45pm yesterday.
“A damaged, uninsured, unregistered Vauxhall Astra was later reported abandoned. Before recovery could be arranged, it was moved again, crashed into a lamppost on Jamaica Road and set on fire. Again, NIFRS colleagues attended to extinguish the fire.
“Death driving, whether in stolen cars or in uninsured, unregistered cars is a blight on the local community.
“The criminals driving these cars offer nothing but destruction and potential injury or death of themselves or an innocent person unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“The people responsible for this activity have little or no thought for the local community or for the consequences of their actions which are reckless in the extreme.
“While we are working with the community and have made progress in addressing this issue, we still need support in addressing the underlying problems.
“We are committed to working in partnership to reduce anti-social behaviour and death-driving.”
Inspector Noble also urged people selling cars later used as “runarounds” to think about what they are doing. He added: “I an understand how tempting it may be to sell a cheap old car for cash, but people really need to consider the consequences of doing so.
“Consider how you would feel if an old car you’ve sold for a couple of hundred pounds is used to commit crime like driving off without paying for petrol or worse.
“How would you feel if the driver of that car ends up seriously injuring or killing themselves or another member of your local community?”
PSNI STATEMENT YESTERDAY