THE brakes are being put on reckless boy racers who intimidate shoppers on a Sandbach town centre car park.
Town councillor David Lloyd-Griffiths fears somebody could be killed by vehicles driven at high speed round the Brookhouse Road car park next to Waitrose.
He said he has been inundated with complaints from residents and staff who are afraid to park because cars are screeching round on two wheels performing stunts.
He has asked Congleton Borough Council, which owns the car park, to intervene before someone is hurt.
He said: 'The way these youths drive around is utterly irresponsible and very dangerous.
'It has become a no-go area after dark and staff at Waitrose have told me they feel intimidated walking to their cars.
'All it will take is suitable engineering work to break up the open stretches within the car park. There is plenty of information available on successful deterrents which work in these kinds of situation.'
Mr Lloyd-Griffiths added: 'These difficulties have been allowed to go on for far too long. They are all part of the same problem, the car park incidents, the damage to the Christmas lights.
'They affect people's lives and detract from the image of the town. If the borough council cannot deal with them, perhaps they should hand over the budget so then we can manage our own facilities.'
Officials at the joint county and borough council highways unit confirmed they had received complaints about boy racers targeting the site.
Senior engineer Malcolm McCuaig said previous complaints had been about HGVs using the car park for overnight stays and a height restriction was now in place to prevent this.
He stressed: 'This car park is over-looked by a block of flats where many elderly folk live so we can understand the concern from them and other users. We will be liaising with police in an effort to curb this anti-social behaviour.'
