Wigan police impose four dispersal zones to thwart weekend boy racer meets

Police are to deploy powers to disperse gatherings in four parts of Wigan borough in order to thwart a series of “car meets” this weekend.
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Officers have uncovered plans to use town centre roads and a bypass as race tracks on Sunday and say they now plan to disrupt them in the interests of public safety.

A spokesperson for GMP Wigan West said: “We are aware of a planned car meet due to take place within Wigan borough on Sunday November 20.

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"Consequently, in order to prevent anti-social behaviour and reduce the risk to members of the community, dispersal powers have been authorised for specific locations in Wigan, Hindley and Leigh from noon on Sunday November 20 until 5am on Monday November 21.”

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The locations included within the dispersal powers include:

Wigan: the area bounded by Stadium Way, Frith Street, Ormskirk Road, Robin Park Road and Scot Lane;

Wigan: Westwood Way from its junction with Warrington Road to its junction with Chapel Lane;

The streets of Hindley town centre affected by the dispersal zoneThe streets of Hindley town centre affected by the dispersal zone
The streets of Hindley town centre affected by the dispersal zone

Leigh: the area bounded by Atherleigh Way, Twist Lane, Wigan Road, Nel Pan Lane, Westleigh Lane, Kirkhall Lane, Leigh Road, Marketplace, King Street, Spinning Jenny Way, Henry Street, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and St Helens Road;

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Hindley: the area bounded by Wigan Road, Darby Lane and Market Street.

The spokesperson added: “A policing operation will be in place involving district police officers and teams from our Specialist Operations branch.

"We will take positive action against any individual driving dangerously or carelessly and in an anti-social manner. In addition to prosecution we will seize vehicles using our powers under the Police Reform Act 2002 and take action after the event if necessary, using evidence from ANPR and CCTV cameras.

“This action is being taken due to recent incidents involving vehicles driven dangerously at similar events in the borough, in addition to significant concerns raised about this issue by the local community and the fact that there have been several incidents in the North West where spectators have tragically been killed at these events.”

The new A49 link road (Westwood Way) has been the focal point of compaints about reckless driving since it opened with calls growing for speed cameras to be installed.