WE have had this issue on our area too. We sometimes hear them at 2am on a Sunday morning racing around the local roads. Its only a matter of time before someone is killed.
My biggest issue with this somewhat circuitous definition of car cruising in the schedule is that ANY of the activities in the schedule are prohibited and that includes driving in convoy while car cruising. So no well-behaved ride-outs of more than 2 bikes such as happen on an ad-hoc or organised basis on many bike club meets such as local DOCGB meets. This seems very badly constructed and open to much abuse by the authorities.
Government already has power to stop gatherings. Its called the Criminal Justice Bill. Brought in to stop the illegal raves back in the day. We went on all the demo marches but the general public didnt care. Until they used it to stop some classic car events and a fete i believe. AFAIAA it is still in power. The Gov can stop gatherings of 3 or more people. Maybe Zhed can confirm. Didnt stop the raves, they just went further underground. Thankfully.
https://consultations.southglos.gov.../Answers to your questions - Car cruising.pdf How would the PSPO affect car meets and shows? The PSPO has been designed to prohibit the anti-social behaviours of car cruising, and will not prohibit car meets, car shows, carnival processions, etc. Case 1 - I am part of a local football club. Me and my friends meet up in our cars at a local retail park before a game, is this something that will be prohibited if the PSPO is implemented? No, the PSPO will not apply in this case. The purpose of the PSPO is not to put a blanket ban on car meets, and so it only applies to the behaviours outlined above. If someone at a car meet were to display one or more of the above behaviours, such as performing stunts, speeding or racing, etc, then they would be committing an offense, and could face a penalty as outlined in the PSPO document. Case 2 - I regularly meet with a group of car enthusiasts to drive peacefully to a location where we will park up, socialise and take photos of the cars — how will the PSPO affect me? This will continue to be allowed — the purpose of the PSPO is not to police peaceful and social car meets, only the anti-social behaviours that sometimes occur within them.
Beware the thin edge of the wedge, if you believe the above then you are foolish. Its staggering the amount of things gov uses one law for to use for other purposes. But in this country, we legislate for the lowest common denominator to appease the gammons.
Have to say, I’m taken aback by the strength of feeling being expressed about what, in the scheme of things, is a pretty innocuous post. According to the most recent statistics I could find (2021), antisocial behaviour is nearly a quarter (22.5%) of all recorded crime in Newcastle-under-Lyme (quite a lot less than violent crime at 43%) but if you scratch below the surface, Newcastle-under-Lyme has a youth problem where almost two thirds of the residents are over 40 and nearly half are over 50. Given the small number of the 18 to 25 age group, I’m guessing the problem is exacerbated by incomers that have been moved on from or are not welcome in their own communities. Anyone my age, will (hopefully) remember the bike and scooter meets in Brighton, that was no different, bored youths trying to make their own fun which the older generation called unacceptable behaviour. Is this a nation wide problem ? Local communities will tell you, absolutely yes. Can it seriously be policed ? IMO, not a chance with the more pressing issues that need addressing first. Will other borough councils follow Newcastle-under-Lyme borough council’s lead ? Can’t see it happening anywhere local to me any time soon and yes, car cruising is seen as a problem local to me. Andy
Much of the Mods v Rockers of the 60's was frankly overstated. It wasnt anything nearly as bad as the press and legend has it. Yes, there were some instances but it is overblown. I was a scooterboy for much of the late 70/80's and we were policed heavily at times at seaside towns. We were just yoofs havin fun, getting drunk. No real issues. The odd no MOT or 6up on a vespa in a field kind of drunken tom foolery. If we'd been middle class or higher, then it wouldve been high jinx and tolerated. But because we were mostly working class the law came down on us hard. Now we are old and we are the ones doing the complaining. Fucking gettin old sucks, but let the yoof be young. Lucky little bastards.
For those thinking this is innocuous, local authorities have a gained reputation over the years within the legal system to wholly overreacting and misusing powers granted under various Acts. You only have to remind yourselves of the abuses carried out by local authorities of the RIPA legislation, put in place to ensure that surveillance by the authorities for criminal investigations is reasoned, proportionate and the justifications for it can be later tested in Court. So the Police, Customs and NCA etc all followed it pretty well and stuck to the rules. Councils used their "interpretation" of the legislation to justify spying on residents who were feeding pigeons or weren't putting their bins away quickly enough or putting them out too early for collection. I interviewed for a City Council Parking Managers role, in the interview I was asked how I would "get around " a blatantly illegal use of Council CCTV in order to increase the speed at which parking wardens could be sent to ticket cars "illegally parked" in their words. I pointed out that this was immoral unethical and illegal and that I don't think that we would be a good fit so we may as well end the interview. Councils are made up of even more self important and biased individuals than Parliament it so I cannot see this ending well for you over there.
There's an awful lot of it about at the moment i've noticed and i cant for the life of me fathom why. Everywhere you look its "The government could..." "The government is looking at..." Etc.... So boring and predictable.
More worrying than any specific ban/law/prohibition that a local authority might want to impose is the mindset that they feel they have the authority to do so.
Look everyone - this is very simple really. All you need to do in order to be a good citizen and to look after everyone’s safety (including your own) is to just work from home during the day, stay at home in the evenings and at weekends, except when leaving the house in order to take part in pre-booked and properly supervised regime-approved activities. And, please remember that when you are at home, you should avoid reading anything on social media which has not been certified by the Ministry of Facts and do not post anything which someone else might disagree with, as you might be inadvertently engaging in hate speech. We at the Department for Social Cohesion and Compliance recommend mindlessly scrolling though Tik Tik lip-sync videos, watching sport or debt-financed online shopping. It’s really not that complicated, so we don’t know why you thicko plebs just can’t work out what is expected of you.
The problem is that the NHS funding crisis has severely setback the compulsory full-frontal lobotomy program for the general populace and the sedatives are wearing off to-boot.
