'We're watching you' warn Nottinghamshire Police to 'car cruisers' near M1

Officers are concerned following a report of a large gathering, where a large number of cars eventually parked up at the East Midlands Parkway train station yesterday (Sunday, April 4).

Some drivers were seen to be driving dangerously and at high speeds through nearby roads and on the motorway itself. Officers attended to engage with the people there and took footage so that the incident can be investigated and appropriate action taken.

The force received local intelligence that there was to be a large gathering of car enthusiasts meeting close to the county border.

Local Reacher and operational support officers went to Portland Retail Park in Mansfield at around 5pm as vehicles arrived, while other cars met in Bulwell and Mansfield.

The group then travelled along the M1 and tried to congregate on the East Midlands Parkway close to Redhill Marina.

PC Phil Broughton from the force's road policing unit said: “These meet-ups become a problem for us when people drive those vehicles in a way that puts other road users, and themselves, at risk of serious injury or death.

"We will be putting more officers and resources into dealing with such events in the coming weeks and months to target people who break the law.

"Our investigation into this incident is underway, including working through the footage taken by officers to identify anyone who was acting illegally.

“Anyone we do identify can expect a visit from us in due course.

"We know this is an issue which matters to our community and we have done a lot of proactive work around it in response to that feedback.

“I completely understand how frustrating it can be to be bothered by noise or other issues related to this type of antisocial behaviour.

“That is why we have an ongoing operation to tackle such issues across Nottinghamshire, which sees officers regularly patrolling known hotspot areas, engaging with drivers and where necessary taking enforcement action.

“We have issued tickets on various occasions in the past and we will continue to do so where appropriate.

"On this occasion this was a last minute car meet event and no fines were issued.

"Officers were able to engage with the organisers and deal with any individual driving issues.

"On the whole, the group were generally well behaved and officers kept a close eye on the large numbers throughout, however we will be pursuing anyone who drove dangerously on our Nottinghamshire roads.

“I would like to reassure the community that we understand of the impact of these issues and we will continue to work with our partners to do everything within our power to tackle them."

If anyone has information, CCTV or dashcam footage which could help with enquiries please call Nottinghamshire Police on 101, quoting incident number 654 of April 4, or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.