Road safety campaigner says court injunction against unauthorised car meets at retail parks will help reduce death and injuries, reports James Cracknell

A court injunction giving police and council enforcement officers extra powers to tackle unauthorised ‘car meets’ along the A10 and elsewhere is set to be sought “in the next two weeks”.

The update from Enfield Council comes amid fresh calls to end the regular use of large car parks for events that see young drivers performing dangerous stunts with modified vehicles and creating excessive noise that disturbs residents for miles around.

The car meets have also been linked to dangerous driving along the A10 and other busy roads in the borough.

In November 2023 the council vowed to take action by seeking a court injunction which would allow the local authority to clamp down on unauthorised events, imposing hefty fines and two-year prison sentences for offenders.

One year later, progress finally appears to be being made. A recent meeting saw council and Transport for London (TfL) bosses meet with Gina Sone-Demetrious, the sister of A10 road victim Laura, who was killed in January while crossing the A10 with her dogs.

The meeting also discussed the introduction of new average speed cameras along the southern section of the A10 in Edmonton where Laura was killed, which TfL now appears to be working on.

Gina has become a road safety campaigner in recent months and presented her petition calling for a range of measures on the A10 to TfL.

In an update on the car meets court injunction, Gina Needs, the council’s cabinet member for community cohesion and enforcement, said: “The council has continued to gather evidence on this issue and is finalising the application to the courts which will be lodged in the next two weeks.

“The leader of Enfield Council, Ergin Erbil, and Enfield’s London Assembly member, Joanne McCartney, have increased pressure on Transport for London to introduce additional road safety measures, including the installation of average speed cameras that cover the remainder of the A10.

“We are committed to proactively tackling anti-social behaviour, including illegal car meets in the borough, and ensuring our neighbourhoods are kept safe.

“Council officers will continue to work with partner agencies and legal teams on this and will co-ordinate our efforts with the police.”

Gina Sone-Demetrious told the Dispatch this week that the recent meeting with TfL and the council was positive but that there was no time to waste in implementing fresh road safety measures.

On the impact of ‘car meets’ in particular, Gina said: “They often meet in these car parks and there are ten or 20 cars speeding around and they all start whizzing down the road.

“They were talking about it at the meeting and they said they were still trying to get the injunction. I do believe it needs to be done very, very soon. We need to stop deaths and injuries and this will help.

“I personally believe if they can get the injunction it will help reduce death and injuries and help the police and the council to stop this from happening.

“It breaks my heart that these things are still happening. I don’t want to go on the road and see more flowers and memorials and plaques. More people are dying.

“The sooner they get it done, it will give the council and the police the power to stop these things.”

Conservative councillor James Hockney, who has campaigned on A10 road safety for several years, said recently that local people were “very frustrated with the lack of progress” but has now welcomed the latest update on the court injunction from the council.

Cllr Hockney said: “I am pleased to see some progress. I have been chasing the council on the injunction so it is welcome we are seeing this moving forward.”

In its previous response to Gina’s A10 road safety petition, which was signed by more than 1,750 people, Mandy McGregor, TfL’s head of policing and community safety, said: “We take everyone’s safety on London’s roads seriously. Safety is our number one priority and it is our mission to eliminate death and serious injury from London’s roads.

“Laura’s death was a tragedy and should never have happened, and our thoughts are with her family and loved ones. We continue to work closely with Enfield Council and the Met Police to reduce all forms of road danger in Enfield, including on the A10.”

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