Council applies for injunction to prevent seafront ‘burn-outs’

August 20, 2015 by Southend Borough Council

Council applies for injunction to prevent seafront ‘burn-outs’

Friday 21st August 2015

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council is applying for a court injunction against organisers of car cruise events that the authority says are putting lives at risk.

The Council is working closely with Essex Police to put a halt to a recent spate of unauthorised events held on the seafront, in which reckless driving has been witnessed along Western Esplanade as crowds line the pavements.

The events are being organised via social media and are bypassing the established procedures for holding public events, which involve event plans being drawn up and reviewed by the local authority, emergency services and other partner agencies, so that they can ensure events are safely managed and appropriately resourced.

As well as filing for an injunction the Council and Police are drawing up detailed plans on how to enforce the injunction - as well as any other related offences, such as speeding, noise disturbance, dangerous driving and insurance offences.

Councillor Martin Terry, Executive Councillor for Public Protection, Waste and Transport, has previously spoken out vociferously against these unauthorised meets and is keen to nip the problem in the bud.

He said: “We’ve been in this position before, where boy racers hold organised meets and use our seafront as racetracks. We did a great deal of work with the police and spent a lot of money installing barriers and redesigning junctions to drive these would-be Lewis Hamiltons out of town, so we won’t stand idly by if these highly dangerous events are resurrected.

“Earlier this month, eight people were injured at a similar event in Peterborough, when a driver lost control and hit a crowd of bystanders. Together with the police, we are sending out a clear message that this behaviour will not be tolerated and you are not welcome in Southend.”