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Fines, arrests and car seizures as police lockdown on ‘cruise’

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Police were out in force for the second week running at Valley Park, fining and arresting ‘nuisance’ drivers during ‘Operation Cross Hair’

For a second successive week, the Metropolitan Police were out in force last night at Valley Park, off the Purley Way, in a crackdown on the high-speed motor “Croydon cruise”.

The police said that they stopped hundreds of people and that they are “robustly dealing with nuisance drivers in the area”.

Describing their actions as “no nonsense”, the police have warned cruise drivers thatthey intend to take “… this action as many times as we need to to send the message”.

The Met have even given their action a codename: “Operation Cross Hair”.

Last night saw the police issuing fines, seizing cars and even making arrests.

“Great job by the team pulling together this operation at short notice in response to complaints from the community,” Superintendent Andy Brittain, the borough commander, tweeted.

Inside Croydon reported last week on the large-scale operation conducted against the organised regular gathering of hundreds of spectators and vehicles, which featured fireworks and loud sound systems in the car park of the retail park alongside Ikea.

The gatherings have been happening at sites along the A23 in Croydon for around 20 years, with the motorised parades sometimes seeing vehicles involved in drag racing on suburban streets – in some cases leading to fatalities.

How Croydon’s top cop responded to the latest action against the cruise

In an official statement after last night’s operation, a Met spokesperson said, “Earlier tonight officers put a lockdown on vehicles in the Valley Park.

“We are robustly dealing with nuisance drivers in the area.

“Using legislation we are issuing fines, seizing cars, and making arrests where needed during Operation Cross Hair

“Acting Inspector Price has set about an action plan this evening to take proactive no nonsense actions with drivers that have sought to using dangerous and harassing driving standards in a public area.

“Our residents and business users’ safety is of paramount importance to us and we will deal with this. Taking this action as many times as we need to to send the message. It is not legal and not acceptable in Croydon.”


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