Edinburgh councillors to consider speed cameras in crackdown on boy racers in South Queensferry
Speed cameras and other interventions will be explored to tackle boy racers in an Edinburgh neighbourhood.
It comes after South Queensferry locals brought a petition to Edinburgh Council’s transport committee saying loud car and bike meets are tormenting them.
According to petitioners, cars and bikes will rev their engines and race around the Hawes Carpark and other nearby areas into the early hours of the morning.
Several petitioners were present at the Thursday meeting, and presented videos to demonstrate the level of noise being heard at night in the area.
One video carried audio of loud horns honking and revving engines, with a petitioner saying it had taken place for a better part of an hour.
He said: “This was a competition, effectively, between three bikes and three cars as to who’s going to be the loudest tonight.
“And it went on for the best part of an hour, on and off, and was very distressing to hear.”
They showed another video, which involved a car skidding around a carpark, with a backfiring noise coming from it.
They said they appreciated speed tables which had been installed in the car park and areas of nearby road, but said that street bikers were now going over them at high speed for fun.
One closed by saying: “Anyhow, the main thing is that in any evening, there could be up to 100 people in the carpark who take it over.
“They make noise, music, shouting, basically make it very unwelcome for residents, tourists, guests of the local hotels and restaurants to come in.”
He added that some local people had begun sleeping in bathtubs in order to have more walls between them and the road noise outside.
Labour councillor Stephen Jenkinson, who convenes the Transport and Environment Committee, asked what the mix between cars and bikes was like, and when the issue is greatest.
A petitioner replied: “As far as the makeup of the cars and bikes, the whole car park is full, most of it.
“At any one time, there can be up to 10 to 12 bikes. They often go across to the Biker’s Cove, which is across the road from the car park.
“It’s where the bikers, the ‘real bikers’ as they call themselves, come during the day to stop and enjoy the view and everything.”
He said that they often start around six in the evening, and run on until about three or four in the morning.
Though numbers decreased as evenings went on, he said only a handful of bikes or cars could ‘completely destroy people’s evenings’.
SNP councillor Lesley MacInnes asked how the police response to neighbourhood complaints had been.
One of the petitioners replied that whenever the police showed up to the car park, “you’ve never seen better behaved people in your life.”
He added: “And then, as soon as the police car goes, it all starts. In fact, often it’s louder because they’ve been kept back for a while.”
Liberal Democrat councillor Kevin Lang said: “I obviously know a bit about this, as a local ward councillor.
“And I can tell you, the situation in town is awful. It’s awful, and it’s getting worse.”
Councillors unanimously agreed a Liberal Democrat proposal which responded to the petition.
It has asked council officers to submit a report in four months laying out ‘what practical options’ the council could take to address the issues raised in the petition, without pushing the racers elsewhere in the city.
And, it asks that council interim director of Place, Gareth Barwell, writes to Police Scotland asking what action is being taken to address the issues in the community.
Further, it asked council officers to explore getting the council more tools to tackle vehicle racing, including speed cameras, and ask Transport Scotland to help enable this.
Last week, Cllr Jenkinson said that, beyond being anti-social, the behaviour of the drivers was dangerous.
He continued: “No one should have to endure repeatedly unsafe and inconsiderate driving in their local community.”
In 2024, it was reported that crowds of up to 100 people were assembling until the early morning along the Queensferry waterfront on an almost nightly basis.
And this May saw anti-social behaviour orders given to drivers in relation to revving their engines and otherwise making ‘excessive noise’ at night in the area.