Isn’t it time for a new approach to tackle boy racers? - Bruce Whitehead

Good Morning Chief! I trust you had a good night's uninterrupted sleep? Unfortunately few of us Queensferry residents did; our adopted Motor Sport team, the Hawes Gang, saw to that: at 1.30am I was woken by a particularly long and deliberate roaring engine, and again at 2am; I never really slept again and had to work early this morning. I think it was a smoky coloured BMW...

Antisocial drivers gather at the Hawes carpark every night

As you know, antisocial driving in Queensferry (speeding, revving engines with illegally modified exploding exhausts, pavement parking, substance abuse, idling, swearing, littering etc...) has continued unchecked for about three years now.

I know you claim to have borne down on offending, and gave a list of Penalty Notices handed out. Unfortunately that lengthy charge sheet has had zero effect on local offending. In fact it’s worse every week. You didn’t say where exactly the offences took place? Were they even in Queensferry?

I work from home, have a clear view of the carpark, and haven’t witnessed one single enforcement action in five years. Few neighbours have either. Indeed, as community officers tell us, when traffic patrols do a drive-through, phones buzz as the drivers spread the word that the cops are here, and the “burnouts” are paused.

For about five minutes. Officers also admitted to us that they “don't feel safe” attending in unmarked cars and “would be spotted immediately, putting them in danger”. But they want us to video offending!

So how was it that officers managed to hand out dozens of penalty notices with hardly anyone noticing?

Isn’t it true that lack of officers has meant that policing of antisocial driver offending has effectively ceased?

Surely you can now agree that the obvious answer is to close down the venue for the offending, by imposing a night-time camera-controlled curfew on the Hawes carpark with exemptions for staff and customers?

Yours, [yawns] Bruce Whitehead

Sleep well chief!​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​