Watch illegal racers turn road into deafening race track - causing misery to residents
The unmistakable sound of cars racing bounces off the urban landscape, infuriating local residents who do not want to live above a race track.
The Express & Star has been given videos capturing the nightly cacophony of car cruising in the Black Country.
The unfortunate residents of the Kenrick Park estate in West Bromwich happen to live above a start line for both drag racing and car cruising.
Unable to sleep due to the roar of engines and turbos being boosted, those with an unwanted bird's eye view are astounded to see families turn up to watch the illegal 'car meets', seemingly undeterred by last year's tragedy of two teenagers being killed whilst in a crowd of spectators at a car meet they had seen advertised on Snapchat.
For 10 years Jake Russell has watched illegal racers, who regularly top speeds of 100mph on 40mph Kenrick Way, in dismay as they continually outfox the police and flout the law.
Jake said: "The sound is horrific. I live six floors up behind triple glazing and I can hear them. First I hear them parking up on the industrial estate, then to the pub car park. And when I hear spectators turning up I know we are in for a long night.
"There are sometimes up to 200 cars and people, the other night they were holding up ambulances because they were organising the start of a drag race.
"They are very social media savvy, these guys. When I am phoning 999, I know after 10pm there just is not the police resources, but they know it as well. They don't care if they eventually see blue lights. I have taken photos but have been threatened."
Last year two 'car meet' spectators were killed in Oldbury; Ben Corfield, 19, was killed alongside 16-year-old Liberty Charris, after a Nissan Skyline ploughed into the crowd just before midnight on a Sunday. They had seen the car meet advertised on Snapchat.
Circuits can vary but the racing usually takes in Kenrick Way, All Saints Way, in West Bromwich Manor Way in Halesowen, then through Cradley Heath and Dudley via the Birmingham New Road and onwards to Wolverhampton.
Such is the concern about car cruising Walsall, Sandwell, Dudley and Wolverhampton Councils have worked with West Midlands Police to get a high court injunction to get new powers to stop the racing. However, as the videos from the Kenrick estate show, the determination, patience and sheer carelessness of the drivers using public roads as drag race tracks, car cruising is still very much a problem for residents.
