Law-abiding car lovers hit out at rule-breakers

Nuisance supercar fans who take their motors to a village and cause misery for residents have "tarred us all with the same brush", a group of law-abiding car enthusiasts have said.

Cheshire Police have launched a crackdown on illegal car meets in Alderley Edge which due to issues with dangerous driving, anti-social behaviour and excessive noise.

James Smith, from the Cheshire car group Turbo Tribe, which arranges organised gatherings, said the negative reputation spread by law-breakers was a "nightmare" for those who do follow the rules.

He also said the events boost local businesses by bringing in hundreds of car owners - something that could come under threat due to a minority of irresponsible car fans.

The 33-year-old started Turbo Tribe to arrange meet-ups and drives for fellow car enthusiasts, with the group now boasting more than 900 members from across the UK.

"We always work with the police and let them know that we are doing these events, we have complete transparency with them," he said.

A dispersal order was put in place by Cheshire Police on the A34 between Wilmslow and Alderley Edge at the weekend to deter any unauthorised meets from taking place.

The force said the move was needed after recent reports of offences around the A34 and social media messages about a planned car meet falsely claiming to be permitted by police.

Mr Smith told BBC Radio Manchester those behind these gatherings often do "illegal street racing, driving without due care attention"

"These are things we don't condone, but unfortunately they do go on," he said, adding his group had a "zero-tolerance" approach to this behaviour.

Turbo Tribe had an event planned in Alderley Edge on Saturday which he had considered cancelling, but he said police had assured him "we wouldn't be targeted by the dispersal order as long as we were behaving correctly".

He said negative media attention on the issue had "put us in a difficult position where a lot of people were deterred from coming because they thought it was sort of a trap".

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