Dotty McLeod of BBC Radio Cambs contacted me after reading my blogpost about the drifting in Orton Southgate that has been keeping residents of Orton Goldhay awake at night. What follows is a complete transcript of the 15 sections of interviews and commentary that were broadcast on Dotty's show on 24th August 2016. Read the original blogpost.
[06:00:00] The six o’clock news for Cambridgeshire. I’m Sam Edwards.
[06:00:00] The six o’clock news for Cambridgeshire. I’m Sam Edwards.
Residents of Orton Southgate in
Peterborough are pleading to both the city council and police to stamp down on
‘drifting’ in the area. Drifting is illegal and involves people using
Peterborough industrial estates, roads and roundabouts to try and get their
cars to skid as much as possible. Residents there claim it’s making their lives
a misery. Trish Jones from neighbouring Orton Goldhay says something needs to
be done quickly.
Trish: It’s an horrendous noise. It’s
screeching brakes, it’s revving engines, it’s an intense smell of burning
rubber. It’s horrendous. It’s meaning we’ve got to shut all our windows and
doors and we can still hear it over the television. It’s disrupting family
life. It’s really not good and it’s been going on for over a year now and
you’re just living on tenterhooks thinking what’s happened now?
Well both Cambridgeshire Police and
Peterborough City Council have told the BBC they’re taking steps to put a stop
to drifting.
[06:01:00] 1m
[06:09:18] Dotty:
Now let’s hear from people living in part of Peterborough who say screeching
brakes, revving engines and the smell of burning rubber are keeping them awake
into the early hours several time a week. They say groups of young men
‘drifting – that’s driving cars fast, trying to make them skid across the surface
of the road, or ‘drift’ - are shattering the peace. Last year BBC Radio Cambridgeshire looked
into the local drifting scene and spoke to a couple of the people involved.
Liam Bull: That’s just some doing
some ‘doughnuts’ and things in a friend’s MX5 when we were in a carpark. I’m
Liam Bull, I’m from Littleport. I’m 20 years old and I do some drifting.
Dean Houghton: I’m Dean Houghton, I
live in Haddenham.
Liam Bull: I like the fact that it’s
something that you can put time and effort into and it’s just the excitement I
suppose more than anything. Like all sorts of adrenalin sports and things like
that. The excitement of pushing your limits as well as something that you’ve
built as well.
Dean Houghton: I think the main thing
for me is the buzz of driving as fast as you can and sliding as quick as you
can and trying to keep the car in control as you can with being out of control.
The buzz out of driving it sideways when it really shouldn’t be going sideways.
It’s fun and quite technical and you learn a lot from it I think, personally.
Dotty: Just a couple of local
drifters from East Cambridgeshire there. Well now it’s people in the Ortons in
Peterborough who say they’re having trouble sleeping because of the amount of
noise the activity is generating. Peterborough City Council say their
Prevention and Enforcement Service, which includes officers from the police and
the council, will be carrying out a survey of the site this week to identify
changes that can be made to stop groups gain access. Our reporter Joseph Hall
has been to see one resident who really isn’t happy.
Trish Jones: Hi, I’m Trish Jones and
I live in a place called Orton Goldhay in Peterborough. We’ve got an issue with
something called ‘drifting’ that’s happening in a place called Orton Southgate
which is about a mile and a half, maybe a little bit less as the crow flies.
And This is mainly happening on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights although,
having said that, we did have it last night. It started at one o’clock in the
morning and went on for an hour. It’s an horrendous noise. It’s screeching
brakes, it’s revving engines, it’s an intense smell of burning rubber. It’s
horrendous. It’s meaning we’ve got to shut all our windows and doors and we can
still hear it over the television. It’s disrupting family life. It’s really not
good and it’s been going on for over a year now and you’re just living on
tenterhooks thinking what’s happened now?
Dotty: That is Trish who lives in
Orton Goldhay. Well we will be hearing from more people who experience this
this racket a little bit later on. We’ll also hear from local councillors on
what they think should be done about this. It’s been going on now for well over
a year. And Cambridgeshire Police will be on the show as well. [6:12:24] 3m6s
[6:32:30] Dotty: Residents of the
Ortons in Peterborough are asking the City Council and the Police to stamp down
on drifting, which they claim is making their lives a misery. Drifting involves
people skidding their cars around the city’s roads.
[06:32:43] 13s
[06:37:48]
Dotty: On the way still this morning on your breakfast show you’re going to
hear more after 7 o’clock about people doing this kind of thing in the Ortons
in Peterborough [drifting noise]. People living in Orton Waterville, in Orton
Southgate, in Orton Goldhay say they’re being kept awake several nights a week
by drifting, people driving their cars fast, skidding them round bends, goes on
till the early hours they say, screeching tires, burning rubber. Been happening
for more than a year. Nothing’s been done about it… Peter on the text says ‘I
don’t live close to Southgate Dotty, but I can still hear the cars, many
Saturday and Sunday nights. It’s not that long since an accident injured a
number of people in exactly this spot’. You know, Pete, you are absolutely bang
on. It was just over a year ago that five people were seriously injured when a
car skidded into a crowd in Orton Southgate. More on this story just after 7
o’clock this morning.
[06:39:07] 1m19s
[07:00:00] The seven o’clock news for Cambridgeshire. I’m Sam Edwards.
Good morning. Cambridgeshire Police
and Peterborough City Council say they are taking steps to stop people drifting
after complaints from local residents. Drifting involves people driving on the
city’s industrial estates, roads and roundabouts to get their cars to skid as
much as possible. It’s a particular problem in the Ortons, with residents there
claiming it’s happening three or four times a week and in the early hours of
the morning. Speaking last year, this resident from East Cambridgeshire
explains why he drifts. [repeat of earlier clip].
[07:01:32] 1m32s
[07:07:23] 16:38
Dotty: Now imagine this at one in the
morning just as you’re trying to nod off [sound clip]. Well that is exactly
what residents in Orton Southgate in Peterborough say they’re hearing all too
frequently and now they want something done about it. The problem: nearby
groups of people drifting their cars fast, trying to get them to skid across
the road or to drift as much as possible. It’s something our reporter Joseph
Hall looked into a few months ago. Here’s a reminder of what he found.
Liam Bull: That’s just some doing
some ‘doughnuts’ and things in a friend’s MX5 when we were in a carpark. I’m
Liam Bull, I’m from Littleport. I’m 20 years old and I do some drifting.
Dean Houghton: I’m Dean Houghton, I
live in Haddenham.
Liam Bull: I like the fact that it’s
something that you can put time and effort into and it’s just the excitement I
suppose more than anything. Like all sorts of adrenalin sports and things like
that. The excitement of pushing your limits as well as something that you’ve
built as well.
Dean Houghton: I think the main thing
for me is the buzz of driving as fast as you can and sliding as quick as you
can and trying to keep the car in control as you can with being out of control.
The buzz out of driving it sideways when it really shouldn’t be going sideways.
It’s fun and quite technical and you learn a lot from it I think, personally.
Joseph Hall: How does it compare to
booze? How does it compare to sex?
Dean Houghton: Probably cheaper and
less aggro! Don’t get in as much trouble. Well, unless you get caught,
obviously, then it’s instant license gone and ban for a couple of years.
Liam Bull: They talk about
communities and the car community is one of them things. Drifting’s always
going to be a part of that community.
Dotty: So that is what drifting is.
Joseph has also been to Peterborough to find out just how much it’s getting
under the skin of people in the Ortons.
Trish Jones: Hi, I’m Trish Jones and
I live in a place called Orton Goldhay in Peterborough. We’ve got an issue with
something called ‘drifting’ that’s happening in a place called Orton Southgate
which is about a mile and a half, maybe a little bit less as the crow flies.
And this is mainly happening on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights although,
having said that, we did have it last night. It started at one o’clock in the
morning and went on for an hour. It’s a horrendous noise. It’s screeching
brakes, it’s revving engines, it’s an intense smell of burning rubber. It’s
horrendous. It’s meaning we’ve got to shut all our windows and doors and we can
still hear it over the television. It’s disrupting family life. It’s really not
good and it’s been going on for over a year now and you’re just living on
tenterhooks thinking what’s happened now?
Joseph Hall: Have you gone to anyone
about this? Have you complained? What can you do?
Trish Jones: We’ve contacted our
local councillors, both the city councillors and parish councillors. We’ve been
encouraged to contact the police which we’ve done incessantly and that resulted
in pretty much getting a wrap on the knuckles by the operator that took my
call. I was told because I couldn’t see anything happening it was simply a
noise issue and that it wasn’t really for the police to deal with. It was a
council issue.
Dotty: Joseph Hall there speaking to
resident Trish Jones in Orton Goldhay. It was Julie Howell from the
Peterborough Green Party who first brought this issue to my attention. Morning
Julie.
Julie: Good morning.
Dotty: So how often do people contact
you about this?
Julie: It’s getting worse and worse.
I think we all thought when there was a terrible accident just over a year ago
involving somebody who was drifting we thought well that’s awful and that’s not
what any of us wanted to happen but at least that would put a stop to it. It
hasn’t Dotty. It hasn’t stopped it at all. If anything it’s getting worse and
it’s getting more frequent.
Dotty: So have you heard the noises
yourself?
Julie: Yes. I actually live a little
bit further away from it than Trish who you heard from there. I live two miles
away in Orton Northgate and I can still hear it. And something I’d like to add,
actually. You’ve mentioned that the drifting is happening on Orton Southgate
industrial estate, which it is. But, the people who are being most affected
live in Orton Goldhay. Because if you look at a map of that part of
Peterborough what you’ll find is that there is only the Orton Parkway
separating where the drifting is happening from a load of residential houses.
There’s a road actually called Hinchcliffe that is very close by that has over
two hundred houses and those residents are not getting any sleep at the
weekends and haven’t been doing so for over a year now.
Dotty: And people have been
complaining, you know, and Trish said she tried calling the police about this
and got given fairly short shrift from them. Really, they kind of wrapped her
on the knuckles for calling something in like this, because the police feel
it’s not their responsibility. Why is that?
Julie: Well let me tell you what I
think of this. I have to tell you, I’m actually on the side of the police here
because the police should be dealing with crime and risk to life. And I would
much rather the police were where they needed to be to be protecting life. But
this is a noise issue. It’s anti-social behaviour and we actually have a
partnership in Peterborough called Safer Peterborough Partnership which does
include the police but also includes the council and other critical services
and what we need here is a coordinated response. One of the biggest concerns I
have here is not just the risk of accidents to the people who are doing the
drifting – and I don’t expect them to stop, because as the guy explained it’s a
hobby he enjoys, it’s a skill, they’re not going to stop if an accident hasn’t
stopped them – but my concern is a different sort of accident. I’ve had a look
at the NHS website this morning to see about the effects of lack of sleep and
it lists difficulty concentrating, difficulty making decisions, you feel
depressed, you risk falling asleep during the day. But crucially, if you
haven’t slept properly there’s a risk of injury or accident. That increases.
And my worry is that the next accident won’t be on an industrial estate in the
middle of the night that only affects the people doing the drifting, it will be
a resident the following day on their way to work who’s not had enough sleep.
It’s absolutely horrendous.
Dotty: Well Julie we did contact
Peterborough City Council because it does sound as though the residents are
getting stuck in the middle of the council and the police, both of them kind of
saying it’s not really our problem. So we talked to Peterborough City Council
and I’m going to read you their statement. It’s a little bit long but it does
actually mention a few things that they’re going to take action on. This is
from Adrian Chapman who is the Service Director for Adult Services and
Communities. He says this: ‘Our Prevention and Enforcement Service which
includes officers from the police and the council will be carrying out a survey
of the site this week to identify changes that can be made to stop groups
gaining access. We know the car cruising is causing a problem for residents. We
will be looking to put in place a short term solution fairly quickly with the
agreement of the landowner followed by a more permanent solution. In the
meantime, Prevention and Enforcement Service officers will be attending the
site of a regular basis and will be liaising with the tri-force road policing unit
to organise dedicated patrols which will include direct intervention work with
the people involved.’ That’s the statement. What do you reckon?
Julie: Yeah, we can put up as many
barriers as we like but I really feel we need to be engaging with the people
who are doing it. I don’t know if the people doing the drifting understand the
impact that they’re having on residents. Is it really their intention to keep
people up all night at weekends and now on some weekday nights as well? And are
they aware of the great distress they’re causing to all sorts of hard-working
people?
Dotty: That’s the thing, isn’t it?
The people that are doing it probably don’t realise. They’re thinking “I’m on
an industrial estate and probably no one can hear me.” But actually, it sounds
like the noise is travelling huge distances.
Julie: It really is and you know the
notorious Peterborough wind does tend to carry noise quite a long distance. So
I’d be disappointed if the authorities’ reaction was to put up barriers. What
we need to be doing is building bridges to the people who are doing the
drifting because I don’t expect them to stop. As we said earlier, an accident
didn’t stop them. What I would love them to do is go and do it somewhere else.
Perhaps do it somewhere else where they will be safer, because let’s remember
these are public roads that they’re using. Just because it’s an industrial
estate and it’s at night, that doesn’t me you haven’t got delivery vans coming
in during the night, so there is a danger there. But do it somewhere that’s out
of earshot so they can do the hobby that they enjoy and residents can have a
good night’s sleep.
Dotty: Yeah, it is awful isn’t it
when you’re being woken up night after night or in the early hours of the
morning. That’s Julie Howell from the Peterborough Green Party.
[07:16:38] 8m15s
[07:24:26]
Dotty: This is from Pete in Orton who
says ‘I don’t even live close to Orton Southgate but I can hear the cars, many
Saturday and Sunday nights. It’s not that long since that accident injured a
number of people.’ Our main story this morning is about people living in parts
of Peterborough who say that fast cars skidding around on a nearby industrial
estate are shattering the peace during the nights where they live. It’s called
‘drifting’ and it’s reported to be a particular problem in the Ortons. Our
reporter Joseph Hall has been to meet a local councillor whose been looking
into this at a rather windy Holkham Road industrial estate.
Kim Aitken: Hello, I’m Kim Aitken I’m
the Councillor for the Orton Waterville ward. We’re at Holkham Road which
branches off to Stapledon Road. When I first heard about the complaints from
Trish and the other residents I had to see for myself where it was taking place
and hear the noise as well. So on one Saturday night, late, I came out and
drove around for some considerable time, basically stayed at Holkham Road to
hear the noise. I have to admit it was just overwhelming, the car noise that I
heard.
Joseph Hall: So we’re standing pretty
much where they race now. It’ kind of two laps of an industrial estate by the
looks of it.
Kim Aitken: They’re basically using
their tyres to turnaround in the car and skid. I can show you the tracks that I
saw that night.
Joseph Hall: I’m looking. There’s
quite a few actually isn’t there, yeah. Concentric circles comes to mind. What,
as a local councillor, can you do about that? We’re hearing that the police are
saying well it’s not up to us, it’s a noise issue, it’s the council’s shout.
Council are saying speak to the police.
Kim Aitken: It’s everybody’s issue
because it’s the residents that are suffering. It isn’t just council, it’s the
police, anybody that can help and obviously because of it being at Holkham Road
and Stapledon Road it’s down to the landowners. The council and the police have
to work with owners to try and get so that we close off these car parks so they
can’t use them in future.
Dotty: Joseph Hall there with the
local councillor for Orton Waterville ward. Joining me now is a resident of
Orton Goldhay who wants to stay anonymous. Good morning.
Anon: Good morning.
Dotty: So can you describe to me how
this issue is affecting your life?
Anon: Well, it’s just constant. You
can’t get any sleep. Some nights it starts and nine o’clock at night and can go
on until two or three in the morning. We have had it as early as 5:30 at night.
Every weekend’s the same. Early hours of the morning. Then you end up
sleep-deprived and it’s quite difficult, to be honest, to carry on a normal
life when you’re sleep-deprived.
Dotty: And it’s even started to
happen on weekday nights. I understand it was going on on Monday night.
Anon: Yeah, Monday night.
Dotty: Don’t these people have jobs
to go to in the morning?
Anon: Well, I don’t know but I know I
do. And you can ring the police and they’re just not interested and we’re just,
as residents, being bounced from one to the other.
Dotty: What, between the police and…?
Anon: Yes, it’s a council issue. It’s
not our issue. Surely that comes under dangerous driving whether it’s private
land or not.
Dotty: So you feel like you’re just
stuck in the middle?
Anon: Yeah, yes. It’s like there’s
nothing, it feels like there’s nothing you can actually do because actually the
police or the council aren’t interested.
Dotty: And every Friday and every
Saturday you must just be sitting there dreading the evening.
Anon: Yeah. You can’t have your
windows open. I mean it’s horrendously hot. I mean we have our windows open all
year round but now we’re at the stage we can’t. I’m probably about a ten minute
walk away from there and we shut the windows now. But you can actually still
hear it through the double glazing. So you’ve got your double glazing shut and
you’ve got your telly turned up loud you know. And it just gets to the stage
where it actually grates on you in the end.
Dotty: Yeah, really starts to grind
you down, to wear you down. I feel for you. I really do. And we’ve been trying
to get some answers on this and some commitments as well from Peterborough City
Council and from the police. You’ll hear from the police after eight o’clock.
I’ll just read you briefly a section of the statement that we have had from
Peterborough City Council. This was from their Service Director for Adult
Services and Communities. Says they are going to be taking action this week,
they’re going to be taking a survey of the site and identifying any changes
that can be made. They’re also going to be making sure that Prevention and
Enforcement Service officers attend the site on a regular basis and they are
going to be liaising with the police.
[7:29:30] 4m56s
[07:31:00] Dotty: As you’ve just been
hearing residents in Peterborough have told this problem that there’s a chronic
problem with drifting in the city. Drifting involves people driving around in
cars trying to skid as much as possible. People living in the Ortons claim it’s
making their lives a misery due to lack of sleep.
[07:31:34] 34s
[07:37:00] Dotty: Thanks very much to
Peter in Godmanchester who gets in
touch on the subject of drifting in Peterborough. He says, what would happen
Dotty if the police in Peterborough took a slightly off-the-wall approach, went
completely undercover, pretended to be friendly to one of the people who was
drifting and videoed them from their car for investigation purposes? Well that might
be quite an interesting exercise, Peter, but I wonder actually whether it would
get the police any further forward. Because we should say, this kind of
drifting, in itself, it’s not against the law. And actually, if it’s going on
on private land, on a private industrial estate, then I don’t know that it
would count as a criminal offence. Like I say, we’ll have Cambridgeshire Police
on just after eight o’clock this morning. We will be talking about exactly
which crimes if any are being committed when people are drifting in this way.
The noise that’s being made is the real issue here. I mean it’s keeping people
who are living within a two-mile radius miles around it’s keeping them awake
several nights a week.
[07:38:20] 1m20s
[07:47:18] Dotty: Thank you very much
to Lou in Therfield who gets in
touch this morning on the subject of the drifting in Peterborough keeping
people for several miles around awake into the wee small hours of the morning
several nights a week. And it’s not just weekends. You know, people having a
bit of fun at the weekend it might be sort of tolerable. But it was happening
on Monday night at one o’clock in the morning and you just don’t need that if
you’ve got a job to get up for the next day. Lou says this: Dotty, I was under
the impression that noise after a certain time late at night or in the early
hours would count as anti-social behaviour, so why do the police think it’s
nothing to do with them? Yeah, we’ve heard from residents who say they’ve
called the council, they call the police, they get bounced between the two. The
Council say call the police. The police say it’s not our problem it’s a noise
issue go to the Council. The residents feel that they’re stuck in the middle.
You will hear from both Peterborough City Council and Cambridgeshire Police in
about fifteen minutes time. And this just shows the strength of feeling about
this. Someone else has called in anonymously and says ‘Dotty, we had a similar
problem to this when we lived in Orton Longueville. Police just don’t seem to care
unless there is a death or an injury.’ Well, in fact, drifting like this, just
over a year ago it did cause injury. Five people were seriously injured when a
skidding car went into a crowd of people. Five people went to hospital. Someone
was brought to book for this.
[07:48:45] 1m27s
[08:01:13] Sam
Edwards: Residents in Peterborough are pleading with the City Council and
police to stamp down on drifting which they claim is making their lives a
misery. Drifting is when motorists use Peterborough’s roads and car parks to
try and get their vehicles to skid as much as possible. So-called drifters say
it’s just like any adrenalin sport but residents say it’s happening many times
a week and in the early hours of the morning at the Orton Southgate industrial
estate. Julie Howell is from the Peterborough Green Party and lives nearby.
Julie Howell: There’s only the Orton
Parkway separating where the drifting is happening from a load of residential
houses and those residents are not getting any sleep at the weekends and haven’t
been doing so for over a year now. And my worry is that the next accident won’t
be on an industrial estate in the middle of the night that only affects the
people doing the drifting, it will be a resident the following day on their way
to work who’s not had enough sleep.
Sam Edwards: Both the police and
Council say they’re taking steps to address the issue.
[08:02:12] 59s
[08:06:30]
Dotty. More from Peterborough from people in the Ortons who
say this is making their lives a misery [sound clip]. We’ve had calls this
morning for the police and the City Council to crack down on drifting. You’ll
hear from the authorities very soon.
[08:06:48] 18s
[08:07:35]
Dotty: Now people living in Peterborough’s Ortons are urging both the City
Council and the police to stamp down on an increasingly noisy pastime which
they say is making their lives a misery. Known as drifting, it involves drivers
using Peterborough’s industrial estates, roads and roundabouts to try and get
their cars to skid as much as possible. Julie Howell from the Peterborough
Green Party told me squealing brakes, revving engines and a burning rubber
smell are making people’s lives very difficult indeed.
Julie Howell: It’s getting worse and
worse. I think we all thought when there was a terrible accident just over a
year ago involving somebody who was drifting we thought well that’s awful and
that’s not what any of us wanted to happen but at least that would put a stop
to it. It hasn’t Dotty. It hasn’t stopped it at all. If anything it’s getting
worse and it’s getting more frequent.
Dotty: Well this resident of Orton
Goldhay who wanted to remain anonymous told me earlier this morning she doesn’t
feel she’s getting the help she needs.
Anon: You can ring the police and
they’re just not interested and we’re just, as residents, being bounced from
one to the other.
Dotty: What, between the police and…?
Anon: Yes, it’s a council issue. It’s
not our issue. Surely that comes under dangerous driving whether it’s private
land or not.
Dotty: So you feel like you’re just
stuck in the middle?
Anon: Yeah, yes. It’s like there’s
nothing, it feels like there’s nothing you can actually do.
Dotty: Well let’s speak now to
Inspector Nicky Hall from Cambridgeshire Police who joins us from our
Peterborough studios. Morning Nikki. What’s it like for you listening to that?
Listening to that resident saying that she just feels no one cares about the
problems this is causing for her?
Nikki Hall: Well clearly it’s not
acceptable. I’ve listened to all your callers this morning and I’m sorry we
haven’t got our response right. It is an issue for the Council and police. I
work for the Prevention and Enforcement Team. I know you read out the statement
earlier from Adrian and we will take ownership for this problem. We do know it’s going on we have put things in
place already and we clearly I want to reassure the residents that actually it
is an issue for us and I’m sorry if we haven’t got our response to you right
previously.
Dotty: I mean this is the thing. When
I talk to the council and I talk to the police on so many issues it’s this
phrase that’s bandied around ‘multi-agency working’, partnership working, we’ve
got the Safer Peterborough Partnership which is meant to join forces between
the Council and the police and yet this has been going on for over a year and
nothing’s been done.
Sgt Hall: Actually things have been
done. Obviously, put in place previously, disruption tactics, and they did
target the area, making the area difficult to access with barriers and things
previously. This is occurring, as you said, over the last few weekends. We were
made aware and encouraged residents to call in around the beginning of August
and we’ve used our police CCTV and ANPR Teams, Police Support Volunteers,
they’ve been out the last two weekends, around Stapledon Road area this
weekend. They’ve liaised with sixteen cars so we know it’s happening. They’ve
been gathering intelligence and information. They disrupted it. We obviously
haven’t been feeding that back as well as we could have done to residents but I
am keen that when we get our response right when this is happening and when the
residents call in that we are tackling the longer term prevention issues and as
you say Adrian said we are having a site visit this week and we are going to
put further things in place.
Dotty: I mean we heard from Trish who
lives in Orton Goldhay about a mile and a half from the industrial estate where
this seems to be going on around Stapledon Road. She said that she called the
police once and was actually given pretty short shrift. She was told it wasn’t
a police matter.
Nikki: Yeah, it is a matter for all
of us. There are environmental health issues, there is a noise problem and so
that is for the Council but it’s for all of us to work together on this. It is
a police matter if there is dangerous driving and as you refer to the accident
or the collision last year was awful and we hoped that things would quiet down.
As you say residents have said it hasn’t, we know it hasn’t and we’re taking
action to deal with that.
Dotty: So is drifting illegal? What
is the law on this?
Sgt Hall: Yes, so there’s no actual
specific law in relation to it. There is racing on the highway as a specific
offence and then you’ve got a variety of traffic offences so your dangerous
driving and your careless driving. When we go out to these obviously we go with
our Traffic Teams where they are available and look at the driver, the
condition of the vehicle, we look at whether there have been any offences
committed and we will come at it from a wide range of angles.
Dotty: And how does anti-social behaviour
come into this because to me, screeching around with noisy tyres and burning
rubber in the wee small hours of the morning that’s clearly anti-social
behaviour and doesn’t that make it a police matter?
Sgt Hall: Yes it does make it a police
matter of course. Again there’s issues if we can we’re there and we can deal
with it under Section 59 of the Police
Reform Act we can give drivers warnings if we catch them being anti-social
behaviour we can give them a warning and then they can have their vehicle seized
so that’s something we can look at. As I say, we have been out and we’re trying
to educate the drifters as well. We’d asked them, you know, we understand what
your caller was saying earlier that this is a hobby for them. Actually, we’ll
work with you. We have no issue about organised cruise events. We have a
traffic sergeant that works with cruisers. We just don’t want this happening
for the residents and as such we need to make sure that we’re out there at the
weekends when they need us.
Dotty: And just to explain the
terminology there, the cruising events are people who love their cars who soup
them up, meeting up basically to show off the hardware.
Sgt Hall: Yes. That’s cruises and
drifting is a specific thing where you obviously try and you want to show your
level of driving skill so in a moving car so I feel that’s where the issues are
and that’s obviously what the residents are reporting.
Dotty: Now you did reference the
statement from Peterborough City Council. It’s from Adrian Chapman who is the
Service Director for Adult Services and Communities. The main complaint from
the residents that we’ve heard is that they feel they are being pinballed
between the police and the Council. It sounds like we might have some progress
on that this morning. It says: Our Prevention and Enforcement Service, which
includes officers from the police and the council, will be carrying out a
survey of the site this week to identify changes that can be made to stop
groups gaining access. We know car cruising is causing a problem for residents.
They will be looking to put in place a short-term solution fairly quickly with
the agreement of the land owner followed by a more permanent solution. In the
meantime, Prevention and Enforcement Service Officers will be attending the
site on a regular basis and will be liaising with the Tri-Force Road Policing
Unit. As this is a county-wide issue, the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Road
Safety Partnership is also looking at how we can challenge the behaviour of
young drivers to prevent the problem in the first place. Now on that last line,
Nikki, do you agree that this is county-wide, it’s not just the Ortons that’s
the problem.
Sgt Hall: Well I think, having looked at
it, it’s a national problem. There are various sites in various towns and
cities across the country that are facing the same issues. So it’s for us to
look at best practice and what we can do to prevent this happening in the first
place and as such we do have a Road Policing Sergeant who is responsible
force-wide for Cambridgeshire Police who work with obviously the Road Safety
Partnership to see how we can target this in a long-term way and how we can
deal with these youths that are committing these offences.
Dotty: And is it youths? I mean
there’s lots of references to young drivers here but is it mainly people who
are on the younger side?
Sgt Hall: It is, yes.
Dotty: Okay, and what kind of things is it that you
think you can do to try and prevent this is a more long-term way?
Sgt Hall: Well I think we’ve already
discussed. I mean, for the residents in Peterborough we obviously need to look
at this one site initially. We know it’s happening elsewhere but the complaints
we’re getting are very much focused on Orton Southgate. So we need to tackle
that in terms of working with the land owners. Although it’s privately owned
land it is obviously public roads and so the offences are being committed
there. But we need to do a series of education and as one of your callers
stated earlier we need to engage with young people. We want them to enjoy this
hobby and this pastime. We just don’t want there to be a public safety risk and
we don’t want it to cause a nuisance to residents.
Dotty: Yeah, Nikki thank you very
much for coming on this morning and I’m sure to the residents that are
listening the apology that you gave earlier on will mean something. Inspector
Nikki Hall there from Cambridgeshire Police joining me from our Peterborough
studios. Also thank you to Peterborough City Council for providing that
detailed statement this morning. And we’re going to follow this because there
are some action points that have been promised there by both Peterborough City
Council and the police. We’ll be checking in in a few weeks’ time and seeing if
they have been stuck to. [08:16:04] 8m
29s
[08:33:50]
Dotty: Cambridgeshire Police has apologised to people in Peterborough and say
they’re looking into complaints about drifting. Drifting is when drivers try to
skid in their cars which uses high speeds and creates a lot of noise. Residents
in the Ortons say it’s making them sleep-deprived because it’s happening
overnight. [08:34:10] 20s
[08:46:00] Thank you very much to Julie Howell for your tweet. We spoke
to Julie earlier this morning, just after seven o’clock. She was drawing to our
attention the problem of drifting in the Ortons in Peterborough. People driving
their cars very, very fast. Causing them to skid. Causing screeching of tyres. The
smell of burning rubber. It’s keeping residents awake several nights a week in
the very, very small hours of the morning. She was listening, it seems, to Sgt
Nikki Hall of Cambridgeshire Police and Julie says ‘Heartened by the response
from the Cambridgeshire Police on the drifting issue. Let’s work together to
give residents peaceful nights.’ Another message though from Lou, not so impressed, who says ‘Listening
to that police Inspector you can understand why so many road accidents are
caused by young lads. They’re doing it on public highways and this topic that
we’re talking about this morning all we hear from the police and the Council is
‘we will look into it’. People who do get caught dangerous driving on our roads
just get a smack and told not to be a naughty boy. It’s a joke’, says Lou.
[08:47:03] 1m3s
[08:52:02] Dotty:
Many messages this morning on the subject of drifting. We’ve been talking about
Peterborough in the Ortons. John in Chesterton says ‘We have this problem too
around Green End Road. It’s the noise that’s the worst thing. I fear the
problem is going to be made worse by putting down double yellow lines which
have been planned. Right now, there are actually obstructions in the road
because of the parked cars.’ Oh I see, so actually, you take away all the
parked cars it might make it easier to drift in this area.
[08:52:26] (24s)
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