Police clampdown on car cruisers again

Three more fixed penalty notices have been given to so-called car cruisers near Ashfield.

Ashfield police teamed up with Ashfield District Council Community Protection Team to carry out a night of action against car cruising on the M1 at Junction 27 on Sunday (20 May 2018) following the new Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO).

The force has been working with the District and Nottinghamshire County councils as well as other community safety partners since a major problem was identified at the site a number of years ago. As a result, an injunction was put in place in 2015 which was replaced by a PSPO in May this year.

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The new PSPO means officers will be able to step up their multi-agency operations by issuing on-the-spot fixed penalty notices or taking drivers directly to court if they take part in any car cruising activities detailed in the order.

Sgt Carl Holland said: “We’ve carried out a large number of ‘night of actions’ now with fantastic results which last summer included 82 first stage injunction warnings and two vehicle seizures.

“It was really good to put the new PSPO powers to use at weekend, and we did actually issue three fixed penalty notices for driving offences, which is a good result.

“It also reduced the amount of calls we get about issues at J27 to almost none, as well as improving the road safety other road users.”

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The event on Sunday (20 May 2018) ran from 7pm to midnight and the Fixed Penalty notices issued for breaching the Public Spaces Protection Order were for £100.

Councillor Christian Chapman, Portfolio Holder for Crime Prevention and Community Safety said “It is great to see the PSPO working in practice. Car Cruising in these areas has been a significant problem for a number of years, and issuing these notices demonstrates to the public that we are serious about tackling this problem and that their behaviour will not be tolerated. The Council will continue to work closely with the Police to ensure that the area remains a safe one for drivers.”

PS Holland said: “We continue to work with our partners to establish a long term solution but these extra powers will really make a difference in the meantime. We’ll also keep running these events sporadically but regularly so that we catch these offenders off-guard. We want to do everything we can to make sure people do not use J27 as a race track. It is illegal and dangerous.”