A dozen drivers who attended an unauthorised motoring event in Trafford have been fined a total of £12,873 in fines and costs orders in court. The men appeared at Stockport Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday 7 August following prosecutions brought by Trafford Council’s Community Safety Team for breach of a Public Spaces Protection Order. The order prohibits people from attending unauthorised motoring events across Trafford and was brought into force following the death of a person at such an event in 2018, when a car left the road and collided with spectators watching the event.
The order makes it an offence to participate in such an event, allow a vehicle to be taken to such an event or to fail to identify the driver of a vehicle attending such an event. The vehicles attending the unauthorised event at Chill Factore in Trafford on December 16 last year were identified by ANPR cameras and through partnership with Greater Manchester Police. The registered keepers of those vehicles were issued with notices requiring them to identify the drivers of those vehicles and were issued with Penalty Notices of £100 for breaching the order.
More than 100 people who attended paid the penalty notice and were not subject to any further action. The court heard that the defendants whose cases were brought before the court had not paid the fixed penalty or identified the driver of it. In one case a driver pleaded guilty to the offence and having been given credit for his guilty plea, was fined £392, ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £157 and prosecution costs of £180.
The remaining defendants did not co-operate with the court process and did not attend. They were convicted in their absence and received fines of £666 each and also have to pay a court surcharge of £264, and costs of £180. Cllr Rose Thompson, Trafford Council’s Executive Member for Communities and Safety, said “The message is very clear, anti-social driving and behaviour will not be tolerated in Trafford however it is committed.
"The Council will continue to use all the tools available to it to deal with those who engage in such behaviour and where they breach orders designed to protect the public, they can expect to be prosecuted. "In this instance a great deal of work was done by our GMP colleagues to monitor the event and provide the evidence required to secure these convictions and we are grateful for their assistance.”.
