Father of son, 19, killed at street race airs his fears over car meet plan at Wolverhampton bar
The father of a teenager who was killed when a driver crashed into people at a street racing event has called plans for a Wolverhampton car meet "reckless".
It comes after The Garden Bar on Birmingham New Road announced it would be hosting a static car meet on its car park on Monday, May 1.
The venue is encouraging anyone with vintage vehicles, super cars, or modified vehicles to attend the "family friendly" event and BBQ, which has a "no street racing" rule.
However, Damian Corfield does not believe the bar will have the means to enforce this and believes it is an "accident waiting to happen".
He said: "I don't think it's responsible at all. It's reckless.
"With the personal blow of losing my son and the Black Country wide-campaign to stop this and eradicate car cruising culture, I think it should be boycotted.
"As a family, we're actively campaigning for safer roads to save other families from going through what we have gone through."
Mr Corfield's son, Ben, was just 19 when he was hit and killed in Oldbury alongside 16-year-old Liberty Charris on November 20 last year.
Since then, he and his wife Lynette have backed the Black Country-wide car cruising injunction, and hope it will be made permanent by the High Court.
"If it was a static meet at a local park and was well organised, it would be totally different," he added. "But they have got no real way of stopping difficulty around there and no real way of enforcing it."
Addressing the concerns of residents who were worried that the car meet could escalate into racing, manager and owner of The Garden Bar, Jas Singh, said: "The car meet has been specifically organised to be carried out when the surrounding areas will not be affected by any sort of traffic disruption.
"The event is a static car meet therefore any visitors who attend will not be going from place to place. We will not be encouraging racing or revving of vehicles at any time, and any persons carrying out these will be asked to leave the event immediately.
"A disclaimer form will be handed out to any persons who attend to ensure that these type of things will not happen. We have put a lot of time and effort in organising a free event whereby like minded individuals are able to show their pride and joy to the local public.
"We have purposely made it a free event so that families are able to bring their children along to see their dream cars and potentially sit in them and/or take photos.
"We take on board the concerns from the local residents and endeavour to work alongside them to ensure there is a smooth running to the event."
Jas Singh told the Express & Star that he had consulted with Wolverhampton Council ahead of announcing the event, but not West Midlands Police.
Wolverhampton Council and West Midlands Police have both been contacted for comment.
