NORTH DOCK: 111 calls to police in two years about revving, racing and doughnuts, and now fines are on the table

Police have been called to North Dock 111 times in two years about cars and bikes, most of them between 8pm and 1am.

Revving, wheel spinning, drifting, doughnuts, racing, horns held down and stereos turned up. Bikes on the pavements, speed bumps used as ramps, cars on the wrong side of the road. Most of the people who rang said it happens every night, or most nights.

Now Carmarthenshire Council wants to make all of it a fineable offence in the car park and the streets around the dock, and there are 12 days left to say yes or no.

What you could be fined for

The order would let police, PCSOs and council officers hand out fixed penalty notices for nuisance gatherings, revving, stunts, racing, obstruction and driving that “causes, or is likely to cause, danger”. Refuse to pay and it goes to court, with a fine of up to £1,000.

Stunts are spelled out: doughnuts, drifting, skidding, handbrake turns, wheel spinning and burn-outs each get their own definition. So do amplified music from a car, litter thrown from one, and “excessive noise, smoke, fumes or disturbance”.

Passengers and spectators too

It would catch more than drivers. Anyone who “attends, organises, encourages or takes part”, as a passenger, owner or spectator, is covered. So is advertising a meet, whether or not it goes ahead.

Emergency vehicles, council contractors and anyone following a police instruction are exempt, and officers can warn before they fine.

The area runs from the Afon Lliedi round the dock and the waterfront homes to the sewage works road. Signs would go up, and the order would last three years.

What residents have lived with

Callers described broken sleep, stress and worry about road safety, and residents, visitors and holidaymakers have all rung in. Anti-social behaviour, road safety, e-scooters and noise are the issues people in Glanymor most often put at the top of the list.

Three weeks ago Dame Nia Griffith called for acoustic cameras, bollards and night barriers at the dock, saying residents had “borne the brunt” for years. None of those is in the order.

Police stepped up patrols in the spring, and in one operation last year handed out 18 vehicle prohibitions and 18 traffic offence reports in a single night, seized two cars and arrested two drivers for drug driving.

12 days left

Cllr Aled Vaughan Owen, the cabinet member for enforcement, said the council wanted to hear from “residents, businesses, visitors and community groups before any decisions are made”, to judge whether the measures were “necessary, proportionate and effective”.

The consultation closes on 12 October, on the council’s Have Your Say page. There is no start date yet; the town centre’s drinking order is out for renewal at the same time.

Author

Kit Peters

Kit Peters is a journalist and the editor of Swansea Bay News, covering Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Carmarthenshire since 2020.