Boy racers cause disorder in Christchurch

Police were kept busy over the weekend dealing with a large influx of boy racers who were in Christchurch for the annual 4 n Rotary car show held at the Westpac Stadium.

'Many car enthusiasts were well behaved, however there was a certain element seemed intent on causing disruption around the city' said Senior Sergeant Trevor Pullen.

Parking was prohibited on Moorhouse Ave between 10pm and 5 am, however hundreds of boy racers congregated on Deans and Harper Ave. Vehicles were bumper to bumper the full length of Harper.

An irresponsible few decided to pour diesel on the road surface near the pedestrian traffic lights on Harper Ave.

Cones were placed across the road as vehicles were performing burnouts. Gridlock occurred with damage to the road surface.

Bottles were thrown at attending police and the road side was littered with broken glass and empty cans and beer bottles.

One police officer was hit 3 times by flying bottles. There were no injuries to police that required medial attention.

As a result, there was major disruption to traffic flow and police closed that section of Harper Ave for nearly 2 hours whilst police officers restored order and the mess was cleared away by contractors.

'Whilst there were no fatal or serious crashes, there was disorder that required immediate police action' said Senior Sergeant Trevor Pullen. 'No arrests were made at the time however, police have identified some offenders who will be located and can expect to be charged' he said.

In all, 20 cars were ordered off the road to defects and 10 drivers processed for dink/driving.

Over 400 infringements were issued for a range of driving offences including speed, breaching drivers licence conditions, noise and offences relating to road safety.