Car meet at the Fair Meadow car park, Oundle Road EMN-210529-213700009Car meet at the Fair Meadow car park, Oundle Road EMN-210529-213700009
Car meet at the Fair Meadow car park, Oundle Road EMN-210529-213700009

Peterborough councillor ‘encouraged’ by Police presence as car meet passes without incident

Cllr Christian Hogg says he was ‘encouraged’ by the Police presence at a car meet in the city this weekend that passed by without major incident.

On Saturday (May 29) from 7pm, upwards of 400 cars arrived at Fair Meadow Car Park on Oundle Road for a scheduled meet.

The events were organised by Kleenscene and Dynasty UK. Dynasty specified that the event was to be a static meet, with attendees asked to park up and take the keys out of their vehicles.

Police were aware of the meet and were present but say that there were no incidents to report.

There was no dispersal order in place this week, unlike last week (May 22).

The order didn’t prevent meets taking place though at Fair Meadow as well as at the Orton Southgate industrial estate.

Residents complained of anti-social behaviour by some of the attendees, including engines revving and hard accelerating with modified exhausts that created a loud popping noise, as loud as gun fire.

At the time, Cllrs Hogg and Julie Howell, representative for Orton Waterville, were critical of the Police response, especially the failure to act on the dispersal order.

This time, however, Cllr Hogg, representative for Fletton and Stanground, believed that the Police presence contributed to the relatively smooth running of the event, compared to last week, but insisted that the council were working on a more permanent solution.

He said: “It it my understanding that several members of the Police did attend the event and I am encouraged by the fact that it was better policed.

“I think if it hadn’t been for the week before we might have been talking about it slightly differently but it was a vast improvement and that was down to the involvement of the Police. It was a lot better but not perfect, probably about as good as we’re going to get for the moment.

“This is an ongoing thing and that is why a task and finish group has been set up to try and keep a lid on things.

“It’s not about stopping the whole thing dead and we are keeping an open mind.

“It is not an easy mend but we are looking at a multi-faceted approach to come up with a permanent solution, not get rid of meets but, if they do happen, to make sure they happen in a way that is respectful towards the community.”

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Police were aware of the meet and were present but say that there were no incidents to report.