Farnborough police to work with Rushmoor Borough Council to target anti-social behaviour

Local Farnborough officers and Roads Policing colleagues are to be working in partnership with Rushmoor Borough Council to target anti-social behaviour in Farnborough.

This comes after officers used dispersal powers after approximately five hundred cars met for an organised car-meet at the town centre car parks this weekend.

The section 35 dispersal order had been put in place to tackle anti-social behaviour following a rise in reports of car-meets in Farnborough town centre.

The dispersal ran between 8pm on Saturday 8 May and 2am on Monday 10 May.

Officers were called to the location just after 8pm on Saturday, to reports of large groups of people gathering and vehicles racing on the A325.

On arrival, officers witnessed around 500 cars and around 1,000 people at the meet, in breach of current health protection regulations.

Within ninety minutes, attending officers had dispersed all vehicles and all people from the area.

Officers engaged with those in attendance and used enforcement where necessary.

Three people were reported for summons in relation to a fixed penalty notice for Covid-19 breaches, and others were issued with fixed penalty notices for vehicle defects and driving offences.

Evidence was captured to follow up with any incidents not dealt with at the time.

Inspector Kirsten Troman said: “A section 35 dispersal order was put into place this weekend, after hearing complaints about anti-social behaviour and car meets in the town centre.

“Our message is clear, this type of behaviour will not be tolerated in Farnborough. We will continue to deal with this type of disorder whenever and wherever it occurs, and we will continue to work with our partners to combat this issue in the longer term.

“Moving forward, we have a joint plan in place with our partners at the local council and will be working closely with their community safety team to keep our communities safe.

“Please continue to report these incidents to us on 101 or via our website, we value your concerns and every bit of information helps us to direct our resources and provide the best service to our communities.”

Councillor Maurice Sheehan, Cabinet Member for Operational Services at Rushmoor Borough Council said: “These events cause significant disruption for local residents and local road users, along with concerns about the standards of driving and associated behaviours.

"We’re working closely with our policing colleagues to identify individuals involved, take action and deter further events.”