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Drivers could be fined £100 by a Labour-run council for revving their engines in an affluent London enclave.
Westminster City Council is planning to clamp down on ‘sudden and/or rapid acceleration’ in Soho and Mayfair between the hours of 12pm and 6am and could use ‘acoustic enforcement cameras’ to catch culprits.
The local authority is seeking to extend its Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) which currently covers most of St James’s, Knightsbridge and Belgravia, due to concerns over ‘a problem with anti-social vehicle use in the West End’.
Such issues are believed to be particularly prevalent on Bond Street, near the tourist hotspots of Piccadilly and Oxford Street, with a concern that public safety is being ‘undermined’ with roads in the area also taking a battering.
Just three weeks ago, police were called to New Bond Street in the early hours of the morning after a ‘large group of masked individuals’ with 30 cars and 20 bikes gathered on the street and attacked a bus with smoke canisters.
A report brought forward to extend the current PSPO is now before Cllr Aicha Less, the council’s deputy leader, with a final decision to be made on August 20 before being quickly implemented, if approved, next week.
Cllr Less previously said: ‘If you are looking to meet up with cars like this, our streets are not the place for it.’
A person would become in breach of the the order if they are to cause a public nuisance by:
- Revving one’s engine
- Suddenly and/or rapidly accelerate
- Race with two or more vehicles
- Perform stunts
- Sound horns
- Play music from a vehicle
- Use threatening or intimidating behaviour towards another person
- Cause an obstruction on a public highway, whether moving or stationary, including driving in a convoy
Supercars have been taking to the streets of central London late at night (as seen here in 2020)
Drivers were seen last year gathering for car meets less than a mile from Buckingham Palace
A fleet of expensive luxury sport cars were seen in central London ahead of a meet last year
Westminster City Council say they have issued 368 fixed penalty notices over the last three years for alleged violations of the order, many for illegal meets on Exhibition Road, South Kensington.
Evidence collected by the New West End Company (NWEC) revealed that police had to be called 25 times out of 33 recorded car meets in New Bond Street between April 2023 to June 2025.
The NWEC said the average number of vehicles attending the car meets is 63, with the Metropolitan Police deploying a vehicle to the area on 14 occasions during that timeframe.
An extract from the council report reads: ‘The impact of this behaviour is a growing concern for the public, local businesses, and the Council.
‘Tyre burnouts leave lasting skid marks on road surfaces, contributing to the visual deterioration of a high-profile retail area and necessitating more frequent resurfacing at a cost to the Council and its partners.
‘Additionally, evidence gathered by NWEC indicates that anti-social vehicle use is disrupting retail security systems, triggering false alarms and leading to the unnecessary deployment of costly resources such as security fog systems, which are activated by the loud disturbances.’
The acoustic cameras, which would be used to catch breaches of the order if the proposals are approved, are activated when they detect events over 80-90 decibels – which is as loud as standing next to a passing London Underground train.
The camera then uses AI to differentiate an engine’s sound from a typical car horn by monitoring the sound patterns.
Cllr Max Sullivan, the council’s cabinet minister for streets, pledged that the council would take a ‘zero-tolerance approach’ to such behaviour and labelled dangerous driving ‘a blight on our streets’.
He added that they would work with the Met ‘to tackle illegal car meets head-on’.
Soho Society chairman Tim Lord told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: ‘We have had a spate of motorbike racing late at night which appears to be dangerous and is incomprehensibly loud and frightening for visitors, residents and businesses.’
