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Westminster City Council has hailed a a High Court injunction that bans anti-social drivers from doing car stunts or holding ‘meets’ in central London. With the neighbouring borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster went to court as the latest response to some years of disorder caused by such meets, typically on a Friday and Saturday night, into the small hours.
Westminster’s Conservative Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Enforcement, Caroline Sargent said: โAnti-social driving is incredibly dangerous, and we do not want it in Westminster. This ruling is a fantastic result for the council and its partners which will make our streets safer whilst offering residents respite from the excessive noise. We have a zero tolerance for this sort of behaviour, so if you are looking to meet up and drive like this, our streets are not the place for it.โ
The councils placed nearly 200 pages of witness statements to the court, including from the business improvement district for Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street, the New West End Company, besides by police and residents. The court documents set out that car meets and cruising are held in Soho; Waterloo Place in the exclusive St James’ district; New Bond Street in the West End; around the Albert Hall south of Hyde Park; and that since ‘mid-2024 there has been an escalation’ in the Knightsbridge and Belgravia wards of Westminster. That’s despite parts of central London having Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) prohibiting such anti-social use of vehicles.ย While the police and other enforcement agencies have attempted to prevent, stop or mitigate the anti-social behaviour at and around car meets, none of their methods including fines under the PSPOs has caused it to stop ‘or its frequency to decrease markedly or at all’.
And Kent
Car cruises and meets have prompted similar resorts to legal action by other councils, for example in Birmingham and Wolverhampton. Meanwhile in Kent, Labour-led Gravesham Council has made a borough-wide PSPO against anti-social driving; whether by cars, on and off-road motorcycles, quad bikes, electric scooters or e-bikes.
Deborah Croxton, Gravesham cabinet member for Community and Leisure, said: โIn recent years there has been a notable increase in reports of disturbance caused by nuisance vehicles and public concerns for the dangers that they pose. The root causes of the problem vary depending on where you live in the borough.ย For those in the more rural areas, off-road bikes can be a concern, while on the edge of built-up areas we know there are issues with the way cars are driven.ย And, of course, in our town centres we know there are serious concerns over inconsiderate riding of electric scooters and e-bikes.ย Thatโs why this new PSPO covers the entire borough.โ
More in the August 2026 edition of Professional Security Magazine. For Kensington and Chelsea work against e-bikes obstructing the pavement, visit the borough’s website.
Photo by Mark Rowe; Oxford Street Christmas lights.
