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New front in the fight against reckless supercar drivers cranking their noisy engines has started with new steps to hit them with much higher fines.
Kensington and Chelsea City Councils have received a spate of complaints from tired local residents who have heard of noisy Lamborghinis, McLarens and motorcycles cruising the streets at night.
It began penalizing drivers who make “excessive noise” late last year with fixed fines of £ 100 and has since imposed hundreds of fines.
But officials want to at least quadruple the penalty to deter more drivers from causing misery.
The move, dubbed “super penalties for supercars,” would also help the district pay for special acoustic cameras that will be rolled out later this month following a successful pilot project.
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The council has tested two of the cameras in Knightsbridge that start recording when a 74 decibel threshold is exceeded.
144 drivers caught racing or revving their engines on Sloane Street and Pont Street between September and December last year have been fined.
An acoustic camera
/ Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council
Councilor Johnny Thalassites, Planning, Location and Environment member, told Standard the district is looking to increase penalties, in part to cover the £ 21,000 operating costs of each camera.
He said, “We haven’t seen repeat offenders so the fines seem to be working. Drivers don’t like receiving them.
“We have had hundreds of complaints about these inconsiderate drivers and we will have five cameras across the district by the end of November. But we want to cover our operating costs and we will contact the government about this.
“Fly tipping fines are £ 450 and that is an amount we will mention. The point here is not to make money, but to cover our costs. If the councils could do that, we could introduce these acoustic cameras in other districts. ”
In a community report, a local resident said: “The noise, day and night, from cars with souped-up engines is ruining my life.”
“It’s too loud to have the windows open, especially at night.”
