Chelsea residents astounded at cars destroyed by boy racer who was not arrested

BY YANN TEAR
yann@slpmedia.co.uk

Residents say they are astounded that police have not arrested a “boy racer” who ploughed his Audi car into a row of expensive cars and wrote them off.

CCTV footage caught the moment on August 5, when a male driver smashed the vehicle into several parked cars, including a Bentley and a McLaren, before it flipped over and landed on its roof.

The video, provided by a resident, was taken at 12.30am. It shows the Audi driver appearing to be racing another speeding motorist.

The driver and his male passenger, both in their 20s, attended hospital with non-serious head injuries.

The residents in Moore Street, Chelsea said between about 10 cars were badly damaged – the majority written off.

Viola Pemberton-Pigott, 78, was washing dishes in her basement kitchen when her front railings were sent flying into the window in front of her.

“I would be very curious to know what the police have been doing,” she said.
“I practically had one of the cars through my railings and into my kitchen. It was the Porsche from the house next to me.

“There’s certainly been a lot of boy racers going through here in recent years.”
A woman who lives opposite the crash scene said: “I wouldn’t have thought it could take this long to arrest him.

“And he went to hospital so they must know who he is. It’s pretty open and shut.

“He must lose his licence, they can’t let this go.”

Another resident who also asked not to be named, said: “You can add me to the list of astounded residents.

“The police told us on the night that they would charge him with dangerous driving. It’s pretty shocking really.

“Our car was damaged and its in a body shop. His insurance is paying for it.”

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “A male driver and passenger from the car involved, both aged in their 20s, were taken to hospital for the treatment of head injuries. Neither were in a life-threatening condition.

“All of the parked cars were empty at the time of the collision.

“The investigation into the collision, which is being treated as an incident of alleged dangerous driving, remains ongoing.

“A large amount of CCTV footage has been collated and is currently being analysed.

“No arrests have been made at this time.”

Days after the crash, Kensington and Chelsea council asked the Government to include the borough in a scheme to clampdown on dangerous drivers and noisy cars.

The Department for Transport said in June it will start testing noise-detecting
cameras, that are similar to normal speed cameras, but have microphones to
detect vehicles breaching legal noise limits.

If a car exceeds 74 decibels, the camera takes photos of the registration number and a fine is sent to the owner.

Councillor Johnny Thalassites said: “Powerful cars need careful handling and,
unfortunately, our borough has seen and heard how certain drivers mistake our streets for a car show.

“This has been going on for years and it’s reaching crisis point.

“Acoustic cameras would give us a powerful new tool to catch drivers flouting the rules of the road.”