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Car meet up drivers face £1,000 fines

Joe Griffin
Local Democracy Reporting Service
Peterborough City Council A screenshot of CCTV footage showing a white van doing doughnuts in a snow-covered car park.Peterborough City Council
A drink-driver was previously sentenced to 36 weeks in prison and disqualified from driving after doing doughnuts at Pleasure Fair Meadow car park

Anti-social drivers taking part in car cruising events at a car park could face £1,000 fines from this weekend.

Pleasure Fair Meadow car park in Peterborough is under a three-year public space protection order (PSPO) to deter unauthorised car meet and anti-social drivers.

Since the order was approved on 3 July, the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority Mayor Paul Bristow said car meets had continued at the site.

He wanted reassurance that new measures would be enforced "robustly" as the PSPO officially comes into effect on Saturday.

Joe Griffin/ Local Democracy Reporting Service Bristow is smiling at the camera while standing outside of a building with restaurants. He is wearing a blue blazer and striped white and light purple shirt. He had golden/ blonde short hair. Joe Griffin/ Local Democracy Reporting Service
Bristow added residents were also frustrated at being passed between the police and the council when reporting incidents

Bristow said he had been contacted by several residents about the car meets.

They told him the disruption it caused was "making life intolerable".

Writing to Peterborough City Council chief executive Matt Gladstone and Cambridgeshire Police chief inspector Steven Ashton, he said residents wanted to know what was being done.

"In light of this, I would be grateful if you could confirm that all available powers under the PSPO will be enforced robustly to deter such activity from the moment it becomes active," he said.

Peterborough City Council Graphic of a map showing Pleasure Fair Meadow Road. The area has been outlined in red to show where the PSPO will apply. Peterborough City Council
The PSPO area includes Pleasure Fair Meadow Road and a car park accessed by Oundle Road, leading to Railworld Wildlife Haven Car Park north of Cubitt Way, and up to and including Steve Baker Walk bordered by the railway line

In Peterborough there are two area PSPOs – one in the city centre and one covering the Millfield, New England, Eastfield and Embankment areas.

Ch Insp Ashton said: "Officers have been out targeting the area of Fair Meadow car park and a number of section 59 warnings have been issued to drivers about their behaviour.

"The PSPO, which comes into effect this weekend, will be enforced robustly from the outset."

He said police would work to improve communication with residents and that tackling the issue was a quarterly priority for that area of Peterborough.

Anyone caught breaching the PSPO could face fines of up to £1,000.

Pleasure Fair Meadow Car Park is monitored by a council operated CCTV camera and, from April 2023 to November 2024, 32 incidents were logged concerning anti-social or dangerous driving and vehicle-related anti-social behaviour.

Christian Hogg, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, was part of a group set up in 2020 to examine issues relating to car cruising.

He said: "From what I can gather they are going to be fairly robust in policing it, using 80% neighbourhood policing team and 20% specials to cover the area, specifically Friday nights but also at other times."

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