Car meets and the law: when petrolhead parties become anti-social
Yet, while most of these gatherings are well intentioned, the police are now struggling to curb a growing number of 'illegal car meets' that are cropping up all over the place and part of a wider issue: 'anti-social driving'. Advertisement - Article continues below
With both terms being as broad and ambiguous in equal measures as each other, we strapped ourselves in for a patrol with Cheshire Constabulary's Road and Crime unit to get to the bottom of what exactly this means and how profound a problem the police are facing.
Our companion for the night was PC Mark Jones – a veteran of the force who took us out in the unit's undercover MINI Countryman John Cooper Works patrol car.
As the sun began to dip below the horizon, we set off with PC Jones explaining what defines anti-social driving. 'It varies wildly,' he said, 'all the way from boy racers and car meets – spinning wheels and showing off – to [examples of] driving without due care and attention such as tailgating or overtaking in a dangerous manner.' Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below
It didn't take all that long for Jones' point to be proven when a Volkswagen Golf a few cars ahead pulled out into the middle of the road and accelerated to pass two or three other vehicles, all on a blind corner.
In a flash, the MINI's blue lights were switched on and the chase began. At first, it appeared the car in question was refusing to stop, blasting off into the distance as we weaved through traffic. However, there was no losing Jones behind the wheel of the 302bhp John Cooper Works and we quickly caught up, with the Golf eventually pulling to the side of the road. Advertisement - Article continues below
To our surprise it was a relatively young male that stepped out of the rather new car we'd just stopped – Jones explained that within the affluent area of Alderley Edge there were 'plenty of young, well-off kids that immediately step into properly fast vehicles' – and he looked rather stunned at the fact that he had been pulled over by a police officer.
The fact that we pulled over a young male driving a car full of people is representative of how this demographic is, statistically, more likely to engage in anti-social and dangerous driving; in the year up to June 2024, males aged between 17 and 29 accounted for 18.5 per cent of all road-going casualties, despite this group making up just seven per cent of all licence holders. Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below
After a chat with the offending driver and giving them a ticking off for driving without due care and attention, Jones joined us back in the car, explaining that young males, such as the one he'd just spoken to, can easily be goaded into performing dangerous manouvres by passengers.
'Social media 100 per cent plays a big role in anti-social driving nowadays,' Jones explained. 'Kids are seeing people driving like idiots online and thinking that's the norm. We, as well as social media companies, really need to nip it in the bud before it has a massive knock-on effect.'
As such, rather than simply trying to scare the living daylights out of those breaking the rules, Jones says the best way to improve the quality of driving is to take opportunities such as this to give some advice. Advertisement - Article continues below
'Education's a big thing and there's not enough out there. Once you get your ticket to drive, you're left to your own devices,' Jones says. 'It's not really until they're prosecuted that most people will receive any kind of further education. There's always room to learn.'
'If you just find someone and prosecute them, they're probably going to walk away with a dim view of the police and be reluctant to change their behaviour. But if you can point out that there are other ways and educate them as to what could have happened if something went wrong, then maybe they'll question whether to do that sort of thing again.' Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below
However, this kind of advice isn't always well received; Jones says that sometimes the police can be viewed with hostility whenever they turn up at car meets to ensure drivers are acting safely and that everyone's vehicles meet legal requirements.
'We often get feedback from people saying, 'Aren't you just wasting your time?' and 'Shouldn't you be out catching murderers?'' Jones admits. 'However, we're looking at the bigger picture, making sure everyone's cars are roadworthy and safe, because certain things can be a major contributing factor to something like an accident.'
Just a couple of weeks prior to our ride, Cheshire police forced a local car club to cancel one of its events, following a huge car meet organised by another group, which saw dozens of instances of anti-social behaviour and even illegal street racing. Advertisement - Article continues below
Essex Police defines illegal car meets as gatherings 'where drivers meet on the public highway or large public car parks to race or show their vehicles to others.' However, James Smith is founder of TurboTribe – the group which had its event forcefully postponed – and told Auto Express: 'There's a big difference between drag racing through the tunnel at Manchester Airport and the slow-moving parade through a village that [they] had planned.'
Having only founded the TurboTribe community in 2024, Smith says the group has a focus on being safe and family friendly, employing public liability insurance, as well as a team of marshals to ensure rules are being kept to. Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below
'While we try to have a working relationship with the police, sometimes some individuals can be unfair,' Smith explained. 'One of our partner brands was planning to host an event on their private land after receiving the landowner's permission. However, two police officers turned up on their doorstep one morning and scared the life out of them. It seemed a bit coercive, saying the event isn't good for the area – they were just clutching at straws.'
That's not to say TurboTribe's events are devoid of troublemakers; Smith says the group's marshalls frequently instruct drivers to slow down if they are going too fast. Nevertheless, he was keen to point out how 'the police talk a lot about responsibility and while it is up to the event organisers to make sure they're doing everything they can, it's also on them to help bridge the gap and aid [them] to mitigate these risks.'
With this in mind, it seems the police have a delicate balancing act to perform. While enthusiasts should be allowed to indulge in their passions, anti-social driving is undoubtedly a big problem across the UK, with large numbers of people descending on certain areas and causing a great deal of distress to local communities. Advertisement - Article continues below Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below
PC Jones also explained that the repercussions of anti-social driving can be severe if anything goes wrong: '[it] varies wildly between minor injuries – cuts and bruises' he said, 'to unfortunate incidents where people – not just those who are committing these acts, but the road users around them – can lose their lives.'
Such risks aren't enough to dissuade everyone, though, and police forces are struggling to clamp down on anti-social driving. In fact, police insiders tell Auto Express that while Boris Johnson's Conservative government did indeed deliver on its promise of 20,000 more police officers on UK streets, many forces were forced to freeze 'civilian' hires, meaning police officers now are forced to spend a large portion of their shifts off the beat and doing paperwork.
'We need more police officers; we have fully paid officers doing things in the background such as admin,' Jones said, 'This takes so much time – half of my shift is usually sitting in the office doing admin – and if we could get more people on the clerical side, that would make a massive difference to us on the front line.'
Even if the police do manage to catch offenders, Jones says the consequences of being prosecuted for dangerous driving have softened in the last couple of years. 'Punishments seem to have come down a lot in recent times and I think the issue with overcrowded prisons doesn't help,' he told us. 'This is frustrating to see, because a lot of hard work goes into convicting someone; you constantly feel like you're swimming against the tide.' Advertisement - Article continues below Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below
Ultimately, the cat-and-mouse game of police versus boy racers continues, but we'd be remiss as an automotive publication to not point out how car groups are trying to get people to enjoy their cars to the fullest somewhere legal and, most importantly, safer.
In association with Three Sisters Circuit, TurboTribe recently announced its new 'Take it to the Track' initiative, which aims to get drivers off the streets and onto the racetrack. Announcing the scheme, TurboTribe says its aims are to 'offer an alternative to speeding on the highways, which will protect the public and foster a culture of respect, discipline and true driving passion.'
In the meantime, Smith was keen to put out a message to Cheshire Police, saying: 'Please work with us – we're happy to work with you and want to have you involved. You can come to events, bring squad cars, educate people on what they should and shouldn't be doing. It's the future of car enthusiasm, and the police are part of that story.'
Not every group has the same vision, however, and Jones wished to remind young drivers and enthusiasts that 'It's a privilege to have a licence, not a given. You need to treat it with more respect than most things in life, because that thing you're driving can change a life in seconds.'
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BBC News
7 minutes ago
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Cats electrocuted, drowned and starved cats in online torture groups, BBC finds
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Daily Mail
8 minutes ago
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Britain's Car Boot King with 19 children, the cleaner who became his second wife - and a bitter war over his '£43million fortune'
On a chilly day in December 2017, an unpleasant incident unfolded at a sprawling estate called Moat Hall Farm near Knutsford in Cheshire. Police had arrived after a neighbour called Adam Scott complained building work was taking place at the house, about which he was most unhappy. That much, said police, was a civil matter. But things took a bizarre turn when the estate owner's dog – a Labrador Shar Pei cross tethered to a 20-metre chain – pounced on PC Simon Banks, dragged him to the ground and sank its teeth into his thigh, leaving severe puncture wounds that required stitches. It was a sorry and rather unusual business – and also, it emerged, only one part of the story. For when the altercation ended in a Stockport court, the presiding magistrate heard something else: that the reason for this distressing confrontation came down to a bitter inheritance feud. Resident at the Moat Hall estate was Adam's elderly father Richard, 81 – known as the Car Boot King courtesy of his enormously successful car boot business and the ITV show Car Boot Challenge which he hosted on his land – and his second wife Jennifer, who at 60 is two years younger than Adam. The couple had married in 2016 following a 23-year relationship, and there was tension over what would happen to the estate when Richard passed away. That phone call to police in December had been one of many, as well as to social services and the Court of Protection. But this was merely the beginning of this bitter family saga. Six months after the attack, Richard died from cancer – leaving the entire estate to his wife. Seven years on, and the inheritance row is not only still blazing, but currently playing out in London's High Court. On one side is divorced father-of-three Adam, Richard's second eldest son who for many years was viewed as the family golden boy. He feels he has been unfairly disinherited and wants the will his father wrote in May 1995 to be reinstated. On the other is Jennifer, who insists her stepson's claims are without merit, fuelled by his resentment that Richard not only had more children with her but then married her not long before his death. Intriguingly, she is supported by not only two of the seven children she had with Richard, but by two of Adam's full sisters from his father's first marriage, Rebecca and Sarah. They are just some of the 19 children Richard fathered in total – six of them outside wedlock. This very public airing of laundry has laid bare the rancour between members of this sprawling family and the financial dealings of a man who at the time of his death was said to be worth £43million – although that number, like so much in this family, is subject to dispute. A flamboyant and well-known figure in Cheshire's 'golden triangle' – the region encompassing the affluent towns and villages of Wilmslow, Alderley Edge and Prestbury – Richard Scott came from a long-established family. The Scotts had been farming in Cheshire for around 300 years, traditionally passing the land and property – including the medieval Moat Hall Farm – down the generations. Richard inherited 25 per cent of Moat Hall Farm in 1958 after the death of his father and, after buying out the shares of his three siblings, became its sole owner. He subsequently purchased two adjacent farms, as well as many other properties. In 1960, at the age of 25, he married his first wife, Janet, and they had six children: Richard Harry, 63, Adam, 62, Rebecca, 61, Rachael, 60, Giles, 55, and Sarah, 50. Richard also had six other children – three boys and three girls – from extra-marital relationships. 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Chester Crown Court heard how he paid two men £500 each to destroy Old Hall Farm near Congleton in Cheshire while he was out of the country to claim £60,000 from his insurance company. He had come up with the ruse having failed to sell the farm, which he bought for £45,000, at a profit. But he was prosecuted following an investigation in which the two arsonists agreed to give evidence against him and was sentenced to five years in prison. Defending, his barrister, David Williams QC, described his client as a ruined man who had taken a gamble and lost. 'His business will disintegrate, and his aspirations of public life are also at an end,' he said. Yet Richard could not remotely have known that his actions would have even more horrendous repercussions. In 1976, Janet was tragically killed when her car overturned on the motorway after visiting her husband in Strangeways prison, Manchester. She was just 35. In the wake of the tragedy, Richard's mother moved into the farmhouse to look after her grandchildren, although Richard Harry, Adam, Rachael and Giles were sent to boarding school. A subsequent relationship with a woman called Valerie Ingleby ended in 1993, although they remained friends, following which Richard advertised for a cleaner. A local woman called Jennifer Redgrave applied and got the job – but, within a year, that relationship had moved from a professional to a romantic one. In 1995, Jennifer gave birth to Gordon, the first of seven children she would share with Richard, the youngest of whom is now 20. A year after Jennifer arrived on the scene, Richard started a car boot sale business known as Chelford Car Boot, over which he deployed typical sleight of hand. Planning rules meant that a single 'unit' (or piece of land) was entitled to run only 14 car boot events a year. So Richard granted tenancies to both his ex-girlfriend Valerie and to Adam – thereby allowing another 14 car boot events to be held on each of the two other parcels of land. Either way, the car boot sales were a huge success and caught the attention of ITV producers, who asked Richard if they could use his fields to film their popular series Car Boot Challenge. Difficult and domineering though he may have been, Richard was undoubtedly a canny businessman – amassing vast tracts of land throughout Cheshire and multiple properties. Quite what would happen to it all in the wake of his death was initially set down in a 1995 will – undisputed by both sides – in which Richard gave Adam a 40-year tenancy of the farm and an option to purchase it at its probate value. Before the end of the year, Richard had signed two wills disinheriting Adam and leaving Jennifer (pictured right) in control of his wealth. Richard died in June 2018, 18 months after making his final will. By that point Adam claims his dementia had spiralled out of control As a consequence, as his barrister Constance McDonnell KC told the court, Adam dedicated himself to the farm at the expense of his personal relationships. In submissions to the court, he claimed to have not only sacrificed holidays, a social life and time with his children because of the demands placed on him by his father, but his romantic relationships, with both his first serious relationship and his marriage to wife Melanie breaking down. At some point, relations with his father and Jennifer also broke down. In 2011 Richard was diagnosed with dementia and, two years later, Adam attempted to get his father sectioned under the Mental Health Act. Richard's GP, a psychiatrist, the police and two nurses visited his home – although on arrival they determined that he had mental capacity. The High Court was told that Jennifer learned her stepson had been responsible for the visit after making a Freedom of Information request. Eighteen months after that visit, in July 2015, social services were separately called to the property after Adam alleged that Richard was beating Jennifer and the children. 'That led to an investigation by social services which was eventually closed, but the children were placed on a safeguarding register, which they found upsetting,' Alex Troup KC, representing Jennifer, told the court. It is this, Jennifer asserts, that led to the final deterioration of the father-son relationship. Either way, within a year, extraordinary scenes unfolded at Knutsford Register Office when Adam attempted to object to his father's wedding ceremony to Jennifer on the basis that he lacked capacity to marry. 'That led to Richard being interviewed by four registrars and a lawyer from the local council, all of whom were satisfied that he did have capacity to marry. The wedding therefore went ahead,' Alex Troup told the court. Before the end of the year, Richard had signed two wills disinheriting Adam and leaving Jennifer in control of his wealth. Gordon and William Redgrave-Scott, his sons with Jennifer, and Adam's sister Rebecca Horley – whom the court heard had said of her father's testamentary intentions: 'I thought if I got £1 it would be more than I thought I'd get, given how unpredictable Dad was,' – were also made beneficiaries. Richard died in June 2018, 18 months after making his final will. By that point Adam claims his dementia had spiralled out of control – to the extent that he drove his car at some children during a car boot sale and attacked Jennifer's bedroom door with a hammer and a screwdriver. Six months after his father's death, Adam issued proceedings challenging the later wills, a legal process which has now arrived at the High Court. He is also bringing an alternative claim under the law of 'proprietary estoppel' – a legal remedy that can be used when a landowner has promised property will be transferred to someone else at a later date, only to renege on it. It perhaps says a great deal about the level of division in the Scott family that they cannot even agree on what Richard's estate is worth. While an initial probate valuation taken out after his death stated that the total market value of the properties was £5,031,366 – updated in January this year to £7,767,510 – Jennifer maintains she has received offers for some but not all of the properties ranging between £14.5 million to £28.8 million. Other reports have, at points, estimated Richard's total worth including other investments to have been as high as £43million. Quite how this saga will end remains to be seen: with both sides having presented their case, judgement is now expected later this year. Whatever the verdict however, it seems unlikely that the combat that has dogged this family will cease any time soon.
Daily Mail
37 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Serial killer Levi Bellfield gets Xbox games and a fry-up every Saturday in 'Monster Mansion' jail
Serial killer Levi Bellfield is able to play Xbox games in prison and enjoy a fry-up every Saturday, the Daily Mail can reveal. The 57-year-old is in HMP Frankland – nicknamed Monster Mansion – where he is serving whole-life sentences for the murders of Milly Dowler, Marsha McDonnell and Amélie Delagrange, as well as the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy. As a so-called enhanced prisoner, Bellfield can have a cooked breakfast every Saturday. A Muslim convert who now uses the name Yusuf Rahim, Bellfield can select halal options, including sausages made from chicken or lamb rather than pork. He is also permitted £33 a week to spend in the canteen whereas standard prisoners have £19.80. The standard canteen sells Mars Bars for 90p and Coca-Cola for £1. Bellfield has access to Xbox computer games, a prison source said. Inmates are not permitted violent gameplay, but often play sport titles such as FIFA. 'They don't call it Monster Mansion for nothing; we are used to the worst of the worst here,' the source at the category A jail added. 'Bellfield isn't a problem on the unit, but it just doesn't feel quite right that a man in for his crimes should be playing Xbox computer games. Those on a whole-life order should get the bare minimum, but unfortunately as officers our hands are tied.' Notorious prisoners at HMP Frankland, in County Durham, include former firearms officer Wayne Couzens, serving a whole-life order, with no chance of parole, for the murder of Sarah Everard. Soham child killer Ian Huntley, Grindr murderer Stephen Port and morgue monster David Fuller are also understood to be at the jail. Hashem Abedi, brother of Manchester Arena bomber Salman, was moved out after stabbing and scalding three officers last April. Bellfield was convicted of the murders of Ms McDonnell, 19, and 22-year-old Ms Delagrange, as well as the attempted murder of Ms Sheedy, 18, in 2008. The former bouncer was then found guilty in 2011 of kidnapping and murdering Milly Dowler, 13, in 2002. A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: 'Having received two whole-life orders, Bellfield will rightly spend the rest of his life in jail.'
