Boy racers to write apology letters
Wednesday 20th May 2009, 11:59AM BST.
Boy racers performing handbrake turns and revving their engines in a part of Telford have been asked to write to the residents they have disturbed.
Teenagers have reportedly been speeding along the new roads in Lightmoor in recent weeks, upsetting people living nearby.
Councillor Keith Osmund Smith told a meeting of The Gorge Parish Council yesterday that the boy racers had been travelling along the Lightmoor Way new road into Bourneville Housing Estate and the service road to the concrete works.
Councillor Osmund Smith, council chairman, said it was not so much their speed that was the problem, but their “performance” with reversing, handbrake turns and noisy exhausts.
He said: “The local policing teams are very good, and I have heard Constable Claire Walker Shale, the local police officer, has dealt with the teenagers by asking them to write letters to the people who have been disturbed by their behaviour.”
Chris Ammonds, Telford police spokesman, said today: “Concerns about youths driving erratically and dangerously were raised to our local policing team by the local community.
“We did some research and investigation into it and a number of individuals have been issued with Section 59 orders.
“They are a warning letter, which states if you or your vehicle registered to you is found behaving in this way in the next 12 months we can seize the vehicle and have it taken off the road.
“It applies to the individual so any vehicle they are driving. They have also had home visits from a local policing officer. They have written letters of apology to local residents they caused a nuisance to.”
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They will have to learn how to write first!
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Maybe they do know how to spell.
There’s nothing to do around here so we find our entertainment whatever way we can. You need to get down from your high horse.
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I very much agree – I doubt many boy racers know how to write at least it will keep them occupied for the next 10 years (learning how to read and write)
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not an anti-chav: Nothing to do around here? Explain what you mean please. Telford may not be the greatest place on the planet, however there is far from a shortage of things to do for entertainment! Try growing up in a rural area where there really is ‘nothing’ to do!
Im sure many of the boy racers can write, as they seem to have no problem filling in forms for job seekers allowance…. innit!
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I live in a quiet part of Telford and we dont have any problems with boy racers here but there are alot of gangs of young teenages (14-15 year olds) that hang around playing loudly in parks. For those I can totally agree and accept that there is nothing else for them to do and they arent actually hurting anyone.
But boy racers must be at least 17 as they drive, they are almost adults, most of them probably are. They are old enough to not need a youth centre to occupy their time. The ‘nothing to do around here’ is a stupid excuse, what I think alot of people mean to say is that they can’t afford to do alot of things because they sit on the dole and spend any spare money they have chaving up there cars. If they got a good decent hardworking job then maybe they would be too tired at night to mess about in streets and have some money to occupy themselves in a better way!
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A few nights in the cells would do these idiots no harm ——but then the industry of liberal handwringing do-gooders would be up in arms.
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Just who is actually asking the boy racers to write an appology?
Big Matty: There is loads to do in the country. I joined a charitable organisation in my youth and we used to travel all over the county, keeping village halls alive, with fund raising events every Fri & Sat night. It was called Young Farmers.
Of course we did our share of hand brake turns, but we were considerate enough to go to a different location each night.
Perhaps the Police will launch an initiative and give these chavs road maps so they can find their way out of Telford?
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MissH. Telford holds lot of things for young teenagers to do.
1) The Army Cadets
2) The Navy Cadets
3) The Raf Cadets
4) Scouts
5) Rangers
6) Voluntary Work
7) The Ice Rink
8) Leisure centres (Council run free to youngsters under 18 ie Swimming baths etc
9) Libaries
10) Wildlife in Telford ie The Wrekin, Granville Park
11) This is a long shot but work, when I was aged 12 – 16 I had 2 part time jobs for the weekends and a few evenings a week
12) Homework – Or do schools no longer provide this.
13) Spending time with families (of course many parents of children in telford have a aversion to this)
14) History ie Telford has many historical local centres
15) Acting and drama clubs ie Little theatre at Donnington.
So to say the younger 12 to 18 have nothing to do in telford is incorrect.
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I’m always interested by this attitude of having nothing to do. What would you like to do and what’s stopping you? If you can finance such an expensive hobby as modifying a car then clearly almost any other hobby or activity is financially within your reach.
It’s easy to pass blame to politicians and government but where is your real input into providing a solution. What would you like to see provided, and who is going to finance it? Remember you are an adult and have your own income and old enough to make choices!
Telford is full of things to do in comparison to most places, and people in this area seem to take it for granted. Even more frustrating is that politicians seem to bend over for the idiots that complain and are happy to mis-allocate funds to a sector of society that are clearly ungrateful of whatever you give them and don’t contribute to the economy either!
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These youths should be praised for honing their driving skills. Handbrake turns are a useful tool to handling a car in an emergency and used to be, (maybe still is ) a part of the advanced test. It’s a shame that their driving practice is upsetting neighbours but maybe more drivers on the roads today should practice their skills, from what I’ve seen of the driving in this area.
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i am part of the ‘cruise scene’ they are not all what you call boy racers , you just get the odd one ! the car scene is a hobby not a crime so its not really fair on us who dont drive stupidly to have nothing to enjoy
but either way no matter how much people try and stop this it will carry on for years to come as it has done in the past
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can’t right. ok, i enjoy my cars..there are idiots that cause disturbance- not all are stupid. Simply showing off or taking it a bit too far. Im 19 i earn 15k and i enjoy going out in my car. maybe i cause annoyance to some- i dont do anything illegal. ‘boy racer’ is a brand that shouldn’t always be put down. some of us are half decent people…just because the idiots out there mean i get pulled over every 5 minutes. im doing nothing wrong, i have a-levels, i enjoy cars. give us somewhere to go and have some fun without disturbing people!
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Don’t tar all boy racers with the same brush, some actually do have well earning jobs and are not relying on the government to support them. The phrase ‘boy racer’ is always used when a car with alloy wheels and a big exhaust is seen, most ‘boy racers’ do not drive around like idiots and are law abiding road users, its just the minority that that spoil it for the rest.
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i find this article and your comments highly hypocritical. Ever heard of the saying ‘being tarred with the same brush’?
I think it would shock most of the general public to know that there are many of us that come out who have degrees, some even run their own businesses.
I’ve been ‘cruising’ for the last 5 years now, I work hard for my money, I’m not a ‘dole dossing chav’ and fortunately I dont buy bits for my car out of Halfords.
We dont just ‘doss’ on a carpark, we socialise and share opinions on something we enjoy doing. If we were to meet in the pub every Friday & Saturday night and do the same it wouldnt be frowned upon!
I find this all very narrow minded, and writing an apology is a joke. The next time I see a dog fouling the streets, or my neighbours decide to have a party, will i receive an apology? Probably not!
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i agree there is stuff to do round telford but iv lived here that long that nothing here is fun anymore, customising cars is fun and if we had some facilities to have fun in our cars and test them out, we wouldnt need to use the streets.
im not a dole dosser and hava a skilled job, customising cars is a way of socialising, while other people are out drinking and causing major trouble, we sit on a car park talking about cars and other stuf. they choose to waste money on drink, we choose to waste our money on cars.
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the so called chavs/ boy racers that do this kind of thing are 17/ 18 and will continue to do so untill the novelty wears off, the proper car enthusiasts get tar’d with the same brush which is unfair but allso a fact of life. as for them speeding along, im sure that theres more reps and white van men that speed about telford but you dont hear much about that.
i myself modify cars and have done for the past 7 years, last year i earnt over 100,000 pound, im vat registered but because i modify cars, drive fast when the conditions allow does that make me a boy racer???
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From a person who was raised in Telford and a person that was also involved in the telford cruise scene. Boy racers is a lame name for prats. simple as. Nothing to do with car enthusiasts and bacuse someone drives a car a littl eover the speed limit there a chav and cant write? Ok.
Maybe you all need to look at where you live for starters, and stop blaming the youth generation for your problems.
Oh by the way!! You dont have to be a chav or a youth to drive fast. But then you would have to think a bit more really wouldnt you. easier to blame the youths.
PS Im 35 in a very good job and drive a bog standard ford focus.
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not an anti-chav – I live in Lightmoor and I can tell you that the boy racers have made my life and my familiy’s life hell. The noise is unbearble and my family and I havn’t had a good nights sleep for ages. How would you like it if I drove down your road with a car which had a really loud noise, revving my engine, wheel spinning and doing handbrake turns from 8pm till about 3 in the morning? The speed the boy racers drive is frighting and the manner in which they drive is just dreadful. It’s only a matter of time before one of the boy racers runs someone over or crashes into someones home.
We’re not complaining just for the sake of it so please don’t tell the people on here who dislike the actions of the boy racers to ‘get get down from your high horse”. All we are asking for is some peace during the evening when we return from a hard days work and a descent nights sleep in our own homes. Is that too much to ask?
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I agree an example should be made of these youths who are causing a problem and they really are scum, but please, don’t tar all people into “chaving up their cars” (I prefer the term modifying over chaving to some extent)
Not all of us are moronic low lifes of the social ladder. I belong to a number of car of car clubs who in no way condone this anti social behaviour as it is not only thoughtless for ocupants of houses nearby by, but also severly dangerous not only to our own lives, but to others aswell. The type of behaviour shown by these senseless individuals here should only be confined to places such as santa pod who hold regular quarter mile drag races and drifting events throughout the year all of which is held legally on private land and watched over by first aiders in the event of something going wrong.
A lot of the car scene I am involved in are often represented in the media falsely, and because of this, the average joe/jane of modern society have a false opion of us “boy racers” but as a community we do a lot of charity work for different organisations such as 2 lads (one from telford, one from shrewsbury) are set to go on a roadtrip called “The Modball” to raise money for the county air ambulance.
Clubs like smapcc and definedridez hold charity meets on a regular basis, always collecting for different charitys.
I think maybe people should look at each person for themselves before falsely tarring every person that enjoys spending money on their car, with the same brush as these morons in this story above.
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Well I read a lot of people referring to ‘cruising’ and I though ships cruised? So I googled it and there were a lot of links to George Michael. I am now very confused about all this – certainly not booking with P&O if George Michael is the ship singer!
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Roads are for driving on and getting from A to B in safe manner not racing on which many of these so called boy racers enjoy. I would if they would enjoy the activity if a close family member is injured/killed by a boy racer racing down streets? or involved in a road accident with a boyracer, and if they would still stand up for the ahem leisure activity?
Many race tracks have race days where people may race sports cars surely this is a safer option
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Y Mab: Indeed it is illegal to race on the public highway. However what happens when we have the Rally of Great Britain? Well they race on ‘closed’ stages then travel ‘legally’ on the roads between stages stopping for repairs if necessary. But let’s look at this closer. They get penalised for arriving ‘late’ at the next stage (to restrict servicing and repairs to favour reliability).
Therefore, rally drivers are in fact ‘racing’ on the public highway as if they have an unreliable car or have wrecked their car, they will feel obliged to ‘make-up’ servicing time by ‘racing’ to the next stage to avoid penalty.
Indeed I recall Ari Vatenen, in a Peugeot 205T16 being stopped by a policeman and being made to clean his windows!
These impressionable chavs seem to be emulating their driving heros, albeit they do seem keen on cleaning their cars.
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Lucy W- Rally drivers have aa Super Pro driving licence from the FIA – I somehow doubt the boyracers pay the FIA 1000 pound for one, I also supect many do not have insurance on the cars.
From experience a under 21 would pay over 1000quid for insurance on Fiat Panda let alone a suped up sports car.
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Re insurance: I also wonder how many chavs declare their ‘modifications’ to their insurers. As I understand, any modification should be declared regardless of performance as statistically there is an increased risk of such cars that insurers are entitled to know about and adjust or decline the insurance accordingly.
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What makes me laugh is that these drivers in their “barried-up” chicken chasers always seem to wish to prove their driving skills in urban areas and housing estates.
As a car enthusiast, I don’t find that particularly impressive to be honest.
Now. If they could get their 1.4 Saxo around the Nurburgring Nordschleife in less than 9 minutes, or go from Crew Green to Shelton lights in 8 minutes then I would be impressed.
Oh. And I can tell you right now that handbrake turns are not part of the Advanced Driving Test.
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Here comes the categoric downfall again.
Cruisers/Modified Car Owners – People who put money, time and pride into their vehicle, therefore don’t race them, as risking that money, time and pride would be stupid! It’s a no brainer really. I know over ten members of our car club hold FIA licenses. They consider themselves modified car owners.
Racers/Rallyers/Experienced Drivers – It’s time renowned that experienced drivers will drive fast to a manner in which they are safe. You could do 100 in an Audi RS4 and stop at the same time as you could in a VW Polo doing 60. Put an experienced/advanced driver behind the wheel and I doubt you’ll see any crashes on public roads, just something for the green parade to moan about. This category normally holds pro’s, police pursuit drivers and those who can handle the tracks.
Boy Racers – The title is pretty much self explanatory, a 1.2 corsa, small brakes, planting the foot, making lots of noise, upsetting the green parade, learning to drive through mistake and generally getting banned by the time they’re 21. More action on these idiots, the rest aren’t doing any harm, they’re enjoying an activity *something to do in telford* that keeps that part of the modern day society. Times change.
I am admin of Shropshire Modified & Performance Car Club. If you do your research, you’ll pickup on the fact we recently held a meet in memory of lives lost.
‘Indeed I recall Ari Vatenen, in a Peugeot 205T16 being stopped by a policeman and being made to clean his windows!’ – You do have a fair point.
Alex.
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Alex in regard of your comment of having a memorial for lives lost does that not explain to you that the activity is dangerous and should be cracked down upon?
I also recall one of the parents of a girl who lost their lives wanted nothing to do with it and was disgusted you had not not asked her permission beforehand.
Your replies to both statements appreciated
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Indeed Y Mab: The following link is what you are referring to:
http://www.shropshirestar.com/2009/05/20/memorial-plan-upsets-grieving-mother/
I was equally sickened that Mr Evans is oblivious to the insensitivity of his so-called memorial meet.
Having some expertise in vehicle dynamics I was going to consider whether or not a RS4 100-0 was quicker than a Polo 60-0, but realise that trying to educate these ignorant people is futile.
I would gladly make the calculations if someone can provide a verified source of the RS4 100-0 (and a Polo to save me doing the test).
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Y mab, you can lose your life doing anything at all, including sleeping, does that mean we should crack down on any activity that may cause us to die…like living for example?
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So infuriated by the ignorance and ridiculous claims by Shropshire Modified & Performance Car Club re RS4 at 100mph v Polo at 60 mph, I have made the calculations.
The Polo can decelerate from 60-0mph in 28m/2.1 seconds. I am awaiting the specs for the RS4 100-0mph.
However the reaction time is the same for both drivers. They are:
Hazard recognition 0.4 sec; pre-braking time 1 sec; reaction time 2 secs and transfer time 0.2 sec, totaling 3.6 seconds.
At 100mph, the RS4 travels 160m before it’s driver starts braking.
At 60 mph, the Polo travels 96m before it’s driver starts braking, then add the 28m, and it stops in 124m.
The point being that the Polo has stopped before the RS4 has even started to brake!!!
To put that into perspective, if a child steps 124m in front of these cars, the Polo stops and the RS4 hits the child at 100mph with their foot still on the accelerator!!!
Now just what don’t these people understand about that?
Peddling such idiotic trash is contributing to fatalities on our roads. I hope that the
Shropshire Modified & Performance Car Club will use this forum to confirm that they do not support the claim that a RS4 at 100 mph can ‘out-break’ a Polo at 60 mph.
Perhaps these so called car enthusiasts might like to join a professional body such as the Society of Automotive Engineers where they can attend seminars and have access to all sorts of training material and leave to boy-racers to their cruising?
I think you will find that these people are insensitive anti-social morons who pedal trash to deny their contribution to road fatalities.
By the way, I do not support the ‘Speed Kills’ campaign, I support ‘Stupidity Kills’
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Brian – agreed.
We all have our hobbies in life, most weekends over the summer, where afforded you’ll find our lot at car shows, whereas the boy racers will still be driving around built up areas and high streets causing agro. And you can’t exactly bring the ASBO youth culture into this, because people have to earn to be able to afford the upkeep of their pride and joy along with the shows they attend. On Sunday night people still showed their respect.
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If I may also enlighten Mr Evans on brakes as I am concerned by the inference I draw from his comment “1.2 corsa, small brakes, planting the foot, making lots of noise”
I assume that the 1.2 Corsas have ABS, therefore, if there is any noise may I suggest that these cars are immediately inspected by a professional.
I’m not quite sure what he means by ‘small brakes’? I can confirm that by firmly pressing the brake pedal in a Corsa 1.2 will activate the ABS at any speed. This confirms that the Corsa’s braking ability is limited by its traction (not the power of its brakes) and in no way can it’s brakes be described as ‘small’.
I dearly hope that Mr Evans does not believe that he can improve the stopping distance by modifying the Corsa with ‘bigger’ or ‘more powerful’ brakes. In my experience, so-called performance modifications if fact, do the opposite as they do not take into account the overall set up of the car and cause conflicts and imbalances.
Such modifications are extremely complicated, for example, change your brakes and your ABS may need re-programming, and from what I have seen of Mr Evans and the Shropshire Modified & Performance Car Club which he represents; there is insufficient expertise to do this.
Indeed a man is currently in jail for the deaths of three of his children. The court heard evidence that it was his modifications that caused the deaths.
By all means tint your windows and hang furry dice, but please do not make mechanical modifications if you do not have the expertise to understand the full effects of what you are doing.
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I don’t people choosing to to do dangerous activities which could cause them to die what I do mind is people engaging in stupid activities which could endanger innocent members of the public who are not involved in said activitied.
Do you understand Brian2?
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Brian2: How true re#29. I have noticed how alot of people die in their sleep at night, so I generally try to do my sleeping in the day as much as possible and party all night. So far, so good.
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HELP!!!
I’ve just read the recent posts by Y Mab and Lucy W and
(a) They make sense
(b) I agree with them
Should I seek professional help??
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Lucy,
Do you really believe that the average braking reaction time on perception of an immediate hazard is 3.60 seconds?!?!? So, if I – as an average driver – see a pedestrian stepping into the road about 100m in front of me, then by your calculations I’ll hit said ped before I have pressed the brake pedal?!?!?
“Oh. I need to brake now”
1……………………
2……………………
3……………………
4……………………
Now I brake.
Consider the BMW 335i (twin turbo straight six engine, 302bhp). The EVO road test measured its braking from 60-0mph as 123.2 feet. Add the HC “thinking distance” of 60 feet, that gives a total braking distance of 193 feet or 64m. Somewhat better than the 240 feet stated in the HC. Actually, the BMW may not perform as well during braking as a Toyota Aygo as the Toyota is much lighter and may well stop from 60 with greater alacrity!
Personally, IMO, it’s all academic. If the average driver is presented with an immediate hazard that would seem to cause impact and injury, there is no thinking time; the driver just stands on the anchors.
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Winja: Absolutely terrifying that you believe that you brake instantly or as you said “there is no thinking time”. As for the Highway Code, no-one knows how they come to such figures as they do not define their principles. Quite clearly the red bit in the HC is way more actual braking time than in practice. It appears that at 60mph, the brakes are ‘on’ for 55m when as I said, for a Polo, its 28m.
However, the Society of Automotive Engineers do publish, and it is not disputed by any reasonable person. Indeed many things in our cars are governed by the standards set by the SAE right down to the oil in the engine. Ever wondered what 10W40 means?
I did lay out the break down of the reaction time as I am aware that lay-people are often surprised.
So when you have worked out why 10W40 engine oil is so called, perhaps you could tell me why the SAE publish the following formula used through out the industry for calculating stopping distances and let us know where the 3.6 comes from?
tAH=tVZ+(v/3.6.a)
Meanwhile I look forward to anyone elses calculations for the RS4 100-0 v Polo 60-0 stopping time.
Even if I accepted an exception overall reaction time of 1.4 seconds (which I doubt that the members of Chav Car Clubs have), then;
At 100mph, the RS4 travels 62m before it’s driver starts braking.
At 60 mph, the Polo travels 37m before it’s driver starts braking, then add the 28m, and it stops in 64m.
The point being that the Polo has stopped at virtually the same distance as the RS4 has started to brake!!!
You really are not helping your cause, nevertheless I appreciate the opportunity you give me to demonstrate my view that ‘Stupidy Kills – not Speed’.
Obviously you can’t do the simple maths but I make no apology for having a battle of wits with an unarmed man.
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Rob, Telford: Thank you for your comment #35. On behalf of Y Mab and myself, I would like welcome you to our world where we are guided by the Beacon of Reason.
Although on occasion it has been blown out and Y Mab has lost his way but I am never far away and relight it for him ;o)
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Given the standard of English coming from the “boy racers” in the comments, are the residents of Lightmoor going to be able to read the letters of apology?
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