Speak out to put the brakes on boy racers, urges councillor

People at Top of the Town bothered by so-called“boy racers”are being urged by a local councillor to contact police.

At a meeting of Stirling Council’s public safety committee, senior police officers told Councillor Ross Oxburgh that reports of cars speeding noisily through the city centre area were not significant enough to warrant action.

But they pledged to put measures in place if that situation changed.

Councillor Oxburgh had asked if the Stirling Car Cruise, an unofficial but organised gathering of car enthusiasts, had anything to do with“annoying and dangerous”issues raised by his constituents at Top of the Town.

However, area commander for Stirling, Chief Inspector Gill Marshall, said that was unlikely.

“The two things are probably unconnected,”she said.“The Car Cruise is a pre-planned and quite a well organised event. The issue of boy racers at Top of the Town is not significant but one we are rightly aware of it but not getting significant reporting on it.

“If there’s a problem we are more than happy to put it in place but with the level of reporting at the moment, we don’t have enough intelligence on that as yet.”

Councillor Oxburgh said later:“This is a not a new problem and many people living in the city centre will be only too aware of it.

“These selfish and irresponsible individuals are causing a lot of disturbance with the noise and it is incredibly dangerous.

“I would encourage as many people as possible to report the behaviour to the police every time it takes place and give officers the best chance of putting a stop to it.”

CI Marshall had reported to last Thursday’s committee that a proactive approach appeared to have dealt with issues involving Stirling Car Cruise, as reported in the Observer last year.

Last August“significant resources” were deployed to the Springkerse area of Stirling after a previous event saw videos and images posted online“suggesting on-street racing and dangerous driving”.

CI Marshall added:“Roads policing colleagues led an enquiry and identified 12 drivers and a total of 19 charges of dangerous driving and street racing have now been libelled.

“Roads policing and local community policing resources worked together supported by the operational support unit to police the August event and to address concerns about public safety and disruption to the local community.”