Overnight arrests over street racing banning order in the Black Country

West Midlands Police first announced that they had picked up someone on the Black Country route in Spring Vale for breaching the order.

They later said, just before midnight last night: "Two further drivers have been arrested for breaching the Street Racing Injunction in the Black Country. Please don’t be the next one."

The order, which has been granted and renewed on a number of occasions since December 2022, prohibits anyone from participating in a street racing event anywhere in Wolverhampton, Walsall, Sandwell or Dudley.

Anyone caught ignoring the injunction could face fines, imprisonment or have their assets seized. Police said earlier this year that it's working because there has been a reduction in street racing.

According to Wolverhampton Council, the banning order "forbids anyone who is a driver, rider or passenger in or on a motor vehicle to participate between the hours of 3pm and 7am in a gathering of two or more persons within the Black Country area at which some of those present engage in motor racing or motor stunts or other dangerous or obstructive driving."

They, also defined what "stunts" means as far as the banning order is concered, adding: "For the purposes of the injunction, stunts are defined as driving manoeuvres often undertaken at such gatherings including but not limited to:

• “Burnouts” – causing a vehicle to destroy its tyres by applying power to the drive wheels while braking so as to remain in place while the wheels revolve at speed

• “Donuts/Donutting” – causing a vehicle to rotate around a fixed point (normally the front axle) while not moving-off causing noise, smoke and tyre marks to be created

• “Drifting” – turning by placing the vehicle in a skid so that most sideways motion is due to the skid not any significant steering input

• “Undertaking” – Passing a vehicle on its nearside so as to overtake in circumstances not permitted by the Highway Code."