Stamford residents fed up with anti-social behaviour in Bath Row car park near the Meadows

Anti-social driving in a town car park has been dubbed Stamford’s Grand Prix by a fed up resident.

Cattle Market and Bath Row car parks on either side of Stamford Meadows have become a hotspot for disruptive drivers in recent years.

South Kesteven District Council is looking to introduce new powers to clamp down on vehicle-related nuisance.

For residents living nearby this couldn’t come soon enough.

A resident of Bath Row, who wishes to remain anonymous, said they and their partner have to use earplugs to drown out the racket.

“They seem to be young drivers blissfully unaware, doing things they are not supposed to do,” they added.

According to the resident the trouble usually starts after midnight with a ‘car horn orchestra’, the flashing of headlights and music blaring with the windows down.

Drivers then race up and down the street, doing doughnuts and revving their engines in what the resident describes as the ‘Stamford Grand Prix’.

On occasions where the drivers have been challenged and asked to stop, they have just moved on to Cattle Market car park.

“It is all the time,” they said.

The resident has also witnessed what they believe to be drug taking and dealing, and drivers drinking alcohol.

They said: “It is an abuse of public space - they don’t have a right to do that.

“It is a nice area here and we should be very proud of it and protect it.”

Following a month-long consultation South Kesteven District Council’s new public space orders are likely to be in place in the next few months.

The order prevents public nuisance including the revving of engines, sudden or rapid acceleration, performing stunts, sounding horns and playing music from a vehicle that causes a public nuisance

Racing is also banned.

Anyone breaching the order could be issued with a £100 fine.

The council also says it will allow more proactive response to CCTV footage from cameras in the area which are monitored all the time.