Driven to despair

Residents claim youths who race their cars around a supermarket carpark are making their lives a misery.

They are calling on Tesco in Ollerton to take action against those responsible.

Up to 40 cars at a time gather in the carpark creating noise that disturbs residents of Rufford Avenue, whose homes back on to the carpark.

Mrs Arlene Czechowska (56) said: “Everybody is fed up. It is horrendous.

“You cannot sit in your garden at night. All you can hear is loud music, shouting, swearing, girls screaming, people playing football and cars racing round the carpark.”

Mrs Czechowska said the problem started when the store was built about six years ago and has continued unabated ever since.

Speaking on behalf of other residents, she said: “Since then we have had nothing but trouble and in the past three years it has got really bad.”

Mrs Czechowska said youths used to gather only at weekends but they were now there nearly every night from 5pm and sometimes stayed until 2am.

She said they disturbed residents with screeching wheelspins and the banging of loud music.

She said she and other residents had been complaining to Tesco’s management for five years but nothing had been done.

Mrs Czechowska said the police came and moved them on but they returned soon after.

She said: “Tesco are making millions and they are making our lives hell.

“It will not be solved unless Tesco does something.”

She suggested the supermarket could put up security cameras or employ a security guard to patrol the carpark.

Mrs Czechowska said motorists were not the only problem. She said teenagers who gathered near the bottle banks in the carpark swore, screamed and shouted.

A spokesman for Tesco said: “We wholly sympathise with the real nuisance being caused and are working with the police.

“While this is not solely our responsibility, we are not being idle on this issue and leaflets are being distributed to the offenders outlining in clear terms the consequences their actions have both on residents and their own property which we understand can and will be seized.

“We have CCTV on the area and are considering barriers to the carpark too.”

Newark and Sherwood District Council has received complaints about loud music coming from vehicles in the carpark.

The council’s reactive team leader for housing and environmental services, Jeremy Hutchinson, said the council was working with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to try and trace the owners of the vehicles suspected of causing the nuisance.

He said if the complaints were found to be justified, the council could serve notice for the noise to stop. Failure to comply could lead to a £5,000 and the seizure of relevant equipment, including the vehicle.

Mr Hutchinson said residents should note the vehicle’s details, without attracting attention and avoiding confrontation, and pass them to the council’s environmental services on 01636 655606.