Torquay locals terrorised by noisy ‘boy racers’ blasting music

A Torquay man says his neighbourhood is suffering at the hands of ‘boy racers’ who gather in a nearby car park and rev their engines late into the night. Raymond Taylor who lives nearby Kilmorie Car Park on Illsham Marine Drive said his quality of life is being seriously affected and that the council and the police have not done enough about it – despite years of complaints which he says he has lodged with the authorities.

Both parties have responded to the matter saying they will continue to monitor the area. Yet Raymond said: “It’s really really bad. I think I am at the end of my tether now. Really. They’re right under our trees at the road on Illsham Marine Drive there and they park there with their motorcycles and they rev their engines. You know, the sound of backfiring exhaust pipes. It’s really really bad.”

He added: “They’re absolutely terrible. It starts at about 7pm and it can go on until 2:30am the following morning. And all that you hear is horns hooting, racing up the road and even reversing up the road and spinning their wheels and driving into the car park. Loud music and now this last couple of weeks there have been off-road motorcycles with their mufflers taken out I think and that’s been going on until 12 o’clock.”

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He said that the problem lasts all year round and the noise pollution coupled with the dangerous driving has become a significant problem for their community and is a risk to public safety. Raymond says one of his neighbours went to confront the boy racers one night a few months back and was met with an intimidating scene.

Raymond said: “Tim phoned the police from the car park when he was surrounded by all these youths and they never came out. They’re turning a blind eye to it.”

Raymond said that the group in the car park were aggressive and intimidating towards his neighbour – who took photos of what was going on.

“He had had enough and went down to the car park to try to talk to the car drivers. As I said the car drivers were confrontational. My neighbour is in his 80s and recovering from a heart attack. I pleaded with him not to do this again,” Raymond added.

To combat the behaviour, Raymond wrote a letter urging the council and the police urging them to do something. In it, he asked the council to consider implementing speed bumps and traffic calming measures along with conducting regular police patrols. He also said that fines should be levied on people who continued to commit anti-social behaviour in the car park as well as have vehicles impounded.

Despite this, Devon & Cornwall Police has said that regular patrols have been carried out in the area, alongside speed detection vans. They also said that the antisocial behaviour had little evidence of being serious.

A Devon & Cornwall Police spokesperson said: “Police are aware of concerns raised about anti-social behaviour at Kilmorie Car Park, in Illsham Marine Drive, Torquay.

“Over the past few months, officers have carried out regular patrols and deployed speed detection vans to the area. While there has been little evidence of serious anti-social behaviour, we will continue to monitor the area and there are powers at our disposal that we can use if offences are detected.

“In the longer term, we are looking to work with local councillors and partner agencies to find a solution to the concerns of residents.”

The council also responded to Raymond’s complaints and raised the issue with the police too. A spokesperson for Torbay Council said: “We are aware of concerns about driver behaviour around this area, and have raised the issue with the police through the Vision Zero South West system as investigating inappropriate driving is a matter for the police.”