A CAR enthusiast has defended organised meet-ups which has led to petrolheads being banned from a retail park.

Colchester Council has announced it plans to make car parks at Turner Rise Retail Park the subject of a new antisocial behaviour order.

Twice in the past sevenmonths, as many as 500 car cruisers have roared into Turner Rise, upsetting neighbours admid claims they revved their engines, played loud music and performed wheelspins in the car park.

Most recently, on October 27, the meeting was organised by Colchester Car Enthusiasts.

Club spokesman Richard Hardingham, 27, said: “We set it up to bring people together. We are not boy racers in any way, shape or form and I hate being classed as that.”

Police attended the last meeting.

But Mr Hardingham said: “It wasn’t meant to be there at first, it was meant to be at Chelmer Village, Chelmsford, but the police blocked it off at 6pm, so we decided to use Turner Rise as an emergency.

We spoke to the manager of Pizza Hut there and he was perfectly happy for us to be there.

“There was no wheel spinning.

The police were happy for us to be there, we spoke to them on several occasions throughout the night and there was no noise from engines revving after 9.30pm.”

Mr Hardingham said the purpose of the club was for enthusiasts to show off how they have customised their vehicles, with some spending thousands of pounds on them.

The new public spaces protection order, a form of Asbo, will apply between 6pm and 6am and give police the power to ban motorists from the car park unless the driver or passengers are shopping, or using restaurants on the site.

Legitimate shop and restaurant customers going there during the hours the ban is in force will be given just 20 minutes to leave after they finish eating or shopping.

Anyone breaching the order will risk a fine of £100.

The order is due to come into force next month and last for a year.