A woman who is fed up with sleepless nights caused by seafront cruisers, has launched a petition to drive them out of town.

June Grace, 64, claims she is plagued almost every night by screeching tyres and revving engines outside her seafront home.

Now she plans to take to the streets and get signatures from the people of Southend who are also fed up with the souped-up cars.

Mrs Grace wants police and Southend Council to take a tougher stance on the cruisers who flock to the town from miles around.

She said: "The police are too lenient. These kids are getting away with murder and it's about time the police got a bit tough.

"If they had their cars confiscated for a week or a month, maybe they would think twice about what they are doing."

Mrs Grace claims the noise from the cars starts at around 8pm almost every night but is at its worst from Thursday through to Sunday, when the cruisers can be around until 5am.

Inspector Richard Thomas at Southend police said that measures were in hand to tackle the problem.

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