Mass ‘car cruising’ halted by police

A MASS gathering of suspected car cruisers was dispersed by cops.

Around 30 vehicles were believed to be involved in car cruising in the Bassetts Pole area, police said.

There is a High Court Injunction in place in the area which has, over recent years, become a hotspot for the activity.

The operation was put in place to focus on a recent spike in car cruising across North Warwickshire.

The Warwickshire Police website says car cruises are “where drivers meet on the public highway to race or show off their vehicles”.

The website adds: “A minority of these drivers perform dangerous stunts, speed and behave in an anti-social manner.

“The cruises can also attract large crowds who can also commit antisocial behaviour and risk being injured by cars driving dangerously.”

Officers from the Northern Special Tasking Team, Coleshill Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) and Warwickshire Operational Patrol Unit (OPU) attended the incident.

As well as dispersing the large number of cars, two traffic offence reports were also issued for defective number plates.

A number of the car occupants were spoken to during the operation.

Special Chief Officer (SCO) Katherine Hancock said “In recent weeks, we have been made aware that large numbers of vehicles have been breaching the Car Cruising High Court Injunction in North Warwickshire.

“In response to this, on the request of Coleshill SNT, officers from the Special Constabulary were asked to assist with proactively policing the area covered by the High Court Injunction.”

“This has led to a downturn in vehicles using North Warwickshire for car cruising opportunities.”

It has been stressed that car cruising is not only dangerous to those taking part, but anyone who is found to be breaching the High Court Injunction risks having their vehicle seized, hefty fines and could even face imprisonment.

SCO Hancock added: “We will continue to proactively police the area and will continue to report those breaching the High Court Injunction.”