Call for action on boy racers

A beauty spot in the West Midlands becomes "a seedy underworld" at night plagued by boy racers and X-rated activities, fed-up residents claim.

Highgate Common, a 500-acre open space at Enville, near Stourbridge, is being targeted at night by teenagers revving and racing their cars and also taking drugs, according to people living nearby.

They also claim that runners out for a jog at night have come across people using the car parks at the beauty spot as a place to park their cars and have sex.

Chris Stanley, who lives nearby in Camp Farm, has now called for action to stop residents' lives being made a misery.

He said: "One of my workers lives in the cottage next to me and has to get up at 5.15am. This is hard if he has been kept awake by boy racers in the early hours.

"It's like the Wild West with them screeching round corners.

"In another house there is a retired couple.

"I would say we have boy racers daily, sometimes hourly and there can be up to 10 of them."

Mr Stanley added that runners had also come across people taking part in X-rated romps in their cars.

He added: "The police have been told and sometimes they come out.

"But I would say they are reactive.

"We only have two officers in Kinver and there is an answerphone at night."

Mr Stanley said residents would be asking for help from South Staffordshire MP Sir Patrick Cormack to try and close of the car parks.

Kinver Pc Dean Colley said there were problems at Highgate Common but denied officers were reactive and said they would always attend when called.

He said: "Unfortunately it is used by anti-social fraternities and would cause alarm to people walking their dogs."

He advised people to take registration numbers of cars involved in any activities.