Monday 17^th August

“I have received encouraging responses from Ministers at the Home Office and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in reply to my recent letter about vehicle noise nuisance and boy racers, which is a problem particularly affecting my constituents in Malmesbury,” said North Wiltshire MP James Gray this morning. 

“I was especially pleased to see the Home Office Minister’s comments about the powers which local Police and local authorities have to seize vehicles which are causing a nuisance, and to make byelaws prohibiting the use of vehicles in particular areas.”

“It was also good to see confirmed that altering an exhaust or silencer to increase noise is contrary to regulation 54 of the Road Vehicles Regulations 1986, and that the Police have powers to take action if they suspect that a vehicle is making excessive noise. The Home Office’s response also details some research that has been undertaken by the Department for Transport to establish whether a good test for measuring vehicle noise might be technically feasible for the Police to use in the future.”

“In the meantime, I would encourage my constituents to continue to draw the problem of boy racers and other noise nuisance caused by vehicles to the attention of Wiltshire Police, to whom I have sent the Ministers’ letters.”

Response from Ministers at the Home Office and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs