'120mph boy racers are causing horrific problems in Milton Keynes city centre' - claim

The move to introduce a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) will now go to a leading councillor for her to make a decision.

But action to end the problem has the solid support of two Central Milton Keynes residents who turned up at Thursday’s meeting of the SaferMK partnership. They thanked the council for taking action but asked for more to be done.

Shaun Maxfield said: “I used to be a track racer and I can tell you that there are cars and motorbikes doing in excess of 120-140mph on a nightly basis. Something needs to be done to prevent it. They leave they area of the Network Rail building and are hitting 120mph between roundabouts.

“I used to be a boy racer and track driver back in the day but these aren’t bangers, they are in Mercs, and BMWs, and the speeds are horrific. I can’t sit out in my garden because of the smoke.

“It’s a nightly event, it’s every night,” he added.

Mr Maxfield, of Kirkstall Place, and Daniel Baguley, of The Hub, said the issue is prevalent across the whole of Milton Keynes, and they said it includes figure-of-eight handbrake turns, called drifting, in car parks, including the one under Sainsbury’s at Witan Gate.

SaferMK is what is known as a community safety partnership. It brings the council, the health service, the police, the fire service, and probation together to encouraged joined up working on public safety issues.

The committee heard that a massive 2,500 responses came in to a public consultation over the summer, with 58 per cent REJECTING the possibility of a ban. But they also heard that, of those in the city centre, a majority supported the ban.

The committee was told that they received more than 1,000 examples of people whose lives has been affected.

Supt Tim Metcalfe, of Thames Valley Police, said a PSPO has worked in Birmingham. “It causes sheer unpleasantness and danger. We need to do as much as we can to prevent a tragedy.”

And Cllr Robin Bradburn (Lib Dem, Bradwell) said it has been a major issue since he was first elected in 2010.

“It’s taken a long time but this is a step forward,” he said.

Paul Scanes, from the Buckinghamshire Fire Service, said he had concerns that the problem could just be “pushed to another area.” But he was told that the PSPO is about trying to “manage” the issue.

The recommendation of the committee will be considered by council deputy leader, Cllr Hannah O’Neill (Lab, Woughton & Fishermead), on a date to be fixed but possibly within the next few weeks.