The High Court has granted a full injunction to cover four boroughs across the West Midlands in a bid to stop street racing.

In Wolverhampton City Council v Persons Unknown, Mr Justice Julian Knowles said the injunctions were sought to ‘restrain what is euphemistically known as “car cruising”’. Such injunctions were originally granted in 2014 and 2016 and ran until the early 2020s when the law relating to 'persons unknown' orders began to develop. As a result of the developments, new applications for an injunction were brought by local authorities particularly affected by street racing.

Referring to the Supreme Court judgment in the Wolverhampton Travellers case, the judge said the requirements and procedural safeguards considered by the Supreme Court were satisfied in the current case. 'While the geographical area concerned is substantial, that is no impediment to an injunction being granted of itself and, indeed, far more extensive injunctions have been granted,' the judge said. 

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‘Such an extensive area’ was necessary given that street racing is a ‘mobile activity’, he added.

The injunction, brought by Wolverhampton City Council, Birmingham City Council and Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall metropolitan borough councils, prohibits people from participating, as a driver, rider or passenger, in a gathering of two or more people where some of those present engage in car racing, vehicular stunts or other dangerous or obstructive driving.

Granting the injunction, the judge said: ‘I am satisfied not only that those who engage in car cruising are deliberately, intentionally and flagrantly flouting the law, but that they will continue to do so unless and until effectively restrained by an injunction, and that nothing short of an injunction will be effective to restrain them.’

 

Michael Singleton, instructed by Legal Services, Wolverhampton City Council, appeared for Wolverhampton City Council, Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council and Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council. Jonathan Manning and Charlotte Crocombe, instructed by Birmingham City Council, appeared for the local authority. The defendants did not appear and were not represented, bar one defendant in the Birmingham case who attended in order to give an appropriate undertaking.

 

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