Flitwick firms feel 'let down' by police response to car meets
Business owners on an industrial estate say they feel "let down" by police over the what they claim is a lack of response to illegal car meets on the site.They said events in which cars were skidded in circles round a ring of fire had been taking place at Lyall Court, Flitwick, Bedfordshire for over three years, with the latest taking place last Friday evening.Grant Palmer, managing director of bus company Grant Palmer, said when nearby residents contacted police to report the events, officers did not turn up, adding: "We have been massively let down."Bedfordshire Police and the Police and Crime Commissioner for Bedfordshire, John Tizard, have been approached for comment.
"The police are completely and utterly incompetent now," said Mr Palmer, 54."This is not just happening here, it is happening everywhere and what are the police doing about it in general?"Ultimately, they [the car drivers] are committing a crime and it needs to be enforced."He said spectators' cars had completely blocked the roads outside the bus company's gates."My biggest concern is the emergency services cannot get to the estate in the event of a fire," he added.Simon Cooper, 58, who runs Cooper Plastics Machinery, said: "They kick up loads of dirt, broke windows, made a ring of fire and leave bits of tyre everywhere, and we have to sweep it up."When you see it on CCTV they are almost hitting spectators who have to jump out of the way."Someone is going to get killed before too long."He said cars were being damaged and having to be towed away.
Nigel Colclough, 61, who runs a fabrication company on the estate, claimed it could take a death before the police took action.He said that while automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras were installed two years ago, he did not believe the information they gathered was acted upon.Mr Colclough said he felt "let down" as firms paid a lot of money in business rates and supported the local economy, adding: "We are not getting anything back."The police need more support, [to] do less paperwork and more actual policing, like it used to be."
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