The Savacentre Racetrack

bensonby · Post by **bensonby** » 25 May 2009 16:29

Has anyone else noticed that Sunday evenings (around 11pm onwards) there seems to be a rather large number of cars using the Sainsbury's car park and the surrounding roads as some sort of race track?

Barty · Post by **Barty** » 25 May 2009 18:12

A familiar enough occurence in many retail parks around the country - I can tell you about two - one in Wakefield and one in Eastbourne.

You are only going to stop this sort of thing by placing a gate or barrier across the entrance to the area......although the other alternative is to have a regular police presence at these sort of gatherings, liaising with and gaining the respect of the boy racers. It then turns from a collection of boy racers racing round the car park to a collection of car nuts parking up and admiring each other's cars.

parker · Post by **parker** » 25 May 2009 18:26

Theres a frequent occurance of events like these at the Collanades in Croydon Purley Way, they seem to have a major problem there too, but had no idea it happened in Sainsbury's in Sydenham.

leenewham · Post by **leenewham** » 25 May 2009 18:46

Last night was the first time I have heard anything, although it wasn't that loud.

Only when I went to Sainsbury's today did I notice all the tyre marks in the carpark. There were more skid marks there than dodgy Kebab shops toilet.

sophie · Post by **sophie** » 26 May 2009 10:43

It has been going at Savacentre for a few years now. I've been there when the police have been called to try and move them on. At least 11pm on a Sunday night (although a pain for the neighbours) is not as dangerous as 9pm on a night when the store is open!!! I can see that they might have to put barriers down to stop it if it carries on.

Eagle · Post by **Eagle** » 26 May 2009 11:02

Cannot they be prosecuted for contributing to global warming by making unnecessary journeys.
What is the point of honest citizens trying to do their bit when others just use fuel for a journey going no where. Shame on them.

bensonby · Post by **bensonby** » 26 May 2009 11:03

The other week was the first time I'd heard it and I live relatively close by. I find the noise exceedingly disruptive...especially when I have to get up at 4am!

Annie · Post by **Annie** » 26 May 2009 17:10

Not sure how these people can afford to ruin their tyres by all the screeching of them,and how can they afford the petrol?

Hubby and I have cut a lot of our journeys down to save money.

eddy2 · Post by **eddy2** » 3 Jun 2009 21:49

I am sorry to say this has been going for a while now.
I get the same thing here in sedgehill road with the small bikes.
come late friday, sat , sun around 10pm we get them belting up and down the road as fast as possible,
the police seem to do very little to stop this.

bensonby · Post by **bensonby** » 4 Jun 2009 16:30

it's very difficult and dangerous to catch them. The police do come, but when they hear the sirens in the distance they make off into the night.

Annie · Post by **Annie** » 4 Jun 2009 18:04

Heres an idea, why not turn the sirens off

bensonby · Post by **bensonby** » 4 Jun 2009 18:26

I bet they've never thought of that!

They can if the roads are pretty clear, but safety would dictate (especially at junctions and so on) to let other road users that you are approaching at speed.

Annie · Post by **Annie** » 4 Jun 2009 19:10

Doh!!

ROJACKRD · Post by **ROJACKRD** » 9 Jun 2009 11:30

I am no way a boy racer and have no intention in becoming one.

But i do drive, and from a safety point of view i would rather they were tearing around Sainsbury's car park than public roads where innocent people drive and cross roads.

I feel the best option, as stated by Barty would be for the police to have a presence there and get them on side, control the noise problem and generally keep them in check.

Also to add if these people were not at Sainsbury's car park with cars they would quite likely be into crime i.e. burglary and muggings, so I again ask where would you rather they were after dark.

Sorry to rant, but alot of todays problems in society are caused by people who don't let other people, especially the young, express themselves, I know the noise could be a problem but i'm sure with the help of the police this could be controlled.

bensonby · Post by **bensonby** » 9 Jun 2009 14:27

ROJACKRD wrote:I am no way a boy racer and have no intention in
But i do drive, and from a safety point of view i would rather they were tearing around Sainsbury's car park than public roads where innocent people drive and cross roads.

perhaps, but there driving is also taking them onto the public highway. The main issue though, from my point of view, is the noise so late at night.

I feel the best option, as stated by Barty would be for the police to have a presence there and get them on side, control the noise problem and generally keep them in check.

Using a vehicle in an anti-social manner can be a crime. Of course warnings can be given (and in some cases have to be given if official action is to be taken) but its not just a case of "getting them on side" the fact that they are behaving in an anti-social manner indicates that they dont give a toss on the whole.

Also to add if these people were not at Sainsbury's car park with cars they would quite likely be into crime i.e. burglary and muggings, so I again ask where would you rather they were after dark.

I'd challenge that assumption....just because someone drives like a prat it doesnt necessarily mean that they want to commit aquisitive crime and I'd rather they were at home in bed, down the pub or in the cinema to be perfectly honest.

Sorry to rant, but alot of todays problems in society are caused by people who don't let other people, especially the young, express themselves, I know the noise could be a problem but i'm sure with the help of the police this could be controlled.

Sorry, driving like a prat doesn't count as "expressing oneself" and if it did then its not a sort of "expression" that should be encouraged as it is anti-social and impacts on other people in a negative way. There are plenty of ways to "express yourself" that don't impact on other people in the same way.

Oblivion · Post by **Oblivion** » 4 Jul 2009 05:41

A big hello to everyone - I'm new to this site and this is my first post.

Regarding so-called "boy racers" screeching their tyres around Sava Centre car park, I had a very nasty experience last night ( Friday ).

It was about 3:30am and I parked my car next to the ATM's at the front of the store, to take out a small amount of cash. I had noticed a group of 4/5 souped-up cars - Golf GTI's, Ford Focus' etc - as I'd entered the car park. But they were quite far away ( near the gas works ) and I was only going to be there a few moments, so... I got out. Big mistake.

As I waited for the machine to give my card back, I had a feeling that something wasn't right. Sure enough, I heard the cars slowly pulling up behind me. They had all turned off their lights and were revving their engines. As you can imagine, I briskly got into my car and began to pull away. At that point one of them stopped inches from my front bumper and another pulled up behind. They were trying to jam me in. I'm not ashamed to admit, my heart was racing and I locked my doors and sped off - being PERSUED by at least three of them. They still had all their lights off, driving behind me and to the sides. I very nearly wrecked my car against a post.

These are some really vicious thugs we're talking about here; people who take pleasure in intimidating and terrifying anyone who dares to enter "their" private playground. Was I stupid to be taking out money at that time of the morning? Yes, I regret it now, should've just used my card. But these nasty little chavs nearly caused me to crash. There's no excuse whatsoever for this behaviour.

Be warned: these aren't your ordinary boy racers - they're an altogether more sinister bunch.

Barty · Post by **Barty** » 4 Jul 2009 16:05

Welcome, Oblivion. Your experiences here are sure to be much nicer than your experiences in Savacentre Car Park....

Are you new to the area or just new to the Forum?

I feel a bit annoyed now for suggesting that these idiots could somehow be turned into responsible individuals.....a bit naive of me.....perhaps it is time to lobby Savacentre to erect a barrier across the two entrances to the car park which they can lock when the store is closed.

I hope you have reported this incident to the police.

Oblivion · Post by **Oblivion** » 4 Jul 2009 21:20

Barty wrote: Welcome, Oblivion. Your experiences here are sure to be much nicer than your experiences in Savacentre Car Park....

Are you new to the area or just new to the Forum?

Hi Barty - I'm just new to the forum. I've lived in Lower Sydenham since about 1993.

When I got home early this morning, I was still quite shocked by what had happened. I typed 'boy racers in Sava Centre car park' into google, to see if other people have been talking about this subject. And sure enough, this thread was the first result ( never even knew about this site until now! ).

Barty wrote: I feel a bit annoyed now for suggesting that these idiots could somehow be turned into responsible individuals.....a bit naive of me.....perhaps it is time to lobby Savacentre to erect a barrier across the two entrances to the car park which they can lock when the store is closed.

I live very close to the car park, so I've been aware of the extra-curricular activities that take place there at weekends for some time. I can hear all the races, the "doughnuts" ( spinning the car's rear wheels ) loud music and various other shenanigans. But I'm usually quite a tolerant person, with a "live and let live" mentality. As far as I was concerned, I'd prefer these people were doing their high-speed antics in the car park, rather than on the roads.

"Sure, they're quite loud, but at least it's mainly at weekends" I'd think to myself - hating the idea of kill joys who over-react because of a couple of bad apples.

But last night changed all that. These people are downright nasty. I'm going to take my digital camera tomorrow morning and take pics of the skid marks that now permeate the north side of the car park. Then I'm going to write directly to the store's manager, with the pics included, explaining the incident that happened to me and the sheer nuisance that these people are causing, in terms of noise and anti-social behaviour. I've noticed that the delivery lorries who replenish stock, use a side road ( by the bus stop ) that goes to the rear of the building - so closing-off the car park at night won't effect the store's operations. That's crucial, because it means getting the car park closed at night is quite a realistc aim.

Barty wrote: I hope you have reported this incident to the police.

Sorry, I didn't report it to the police. There's nothing the cops can do except ( briefly ) move them on. I suspect that, if anything, the police are quietly glad that these wannabe racing drivers are at least contained in the same place. Other groups congregate in Crystal Palace park too - the police don't seem to mind.

The question I often ask myself is, where on earth do these kids - who are younger than me - get the money for £10/15k cars?

Pat Trembath · Post by **Pat Trembath** » 5 Jul 2009 08:25

I sympathise with Oblivion - a truly nasty experience.

However, if I'm not mistaken Sainsburys has applied for a licence to trade 24 hours a day. If agreed, this would mean that there would be no closure to the car park but, possibly, more acceptable activity in this area throughout the night.

New residential development is also planned on the "island site" between the car park and Bell Green (the road). If approved this should provide even further activity in this area, which could prove a deterrent to these anti-social and highly undesirable boy racers.

maturin · Post by **maturin** » 5 Jul 2009 08:36

You really should report that incident. Contrary to what someone else said, these are not people 'expressing' themselves, they are thugs. Every time we back off and justify their actions they are emboldened; look how they reacted to your 'intrusion' into 'their' space.

There are CCTV cameras all over the Savacentre centre. I would be very surprised if these do not run 24 hours a day. You can make an FOI request for the relevant footage as you are (a) in the footage and (b) believe a crime was committed. The license plates should be clearly identifiable.

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