A organiser of unofficial car meets at Aberdeen’s beach ballroom has hit out at Police for ‘shunning’ the car scene and making them all out to be ‘hooligans’.
The group called ‘Aberdeen Car Scene’ will ‘take over the beach’ bimonthly, with the next event planned for Saturday August 13 at 7pm.
Event organiser Nathan Will has defended the unofficial meets by saying: “The majority of people attending were driving respectfully and it’s unfortunate that a few cars we’re not which in the long term could ruin it for others.
“I’m not annoyed at the Police at all as their job is to keep everyone safe.
“However I do feel like they shun the car scene and make it out to be a bunch of hooligans driving recklessly, where in actual fact we’re just car enthusiasts that enjoy anything with wheels and an engine.”
The unofficial meets are attracting unwanted Police attention after reports from the public of cars being driven in an antisocial manner – with cars shown in footage clearly going above 20mph speed limit.
However the public aren’t wrong after a crash at the meet in March at the Beach Boulevard junction with Links Road.
Nathan Muckart, 23 was given a fixed penalty of three points and a £100 fine for a road traffic offence in relation to the incident.
Police said at the time: “Officers attended the Beach Boulevard, Esplanade and Links Road areas of Aberdeen during the evening of Saturday, 19 March, following reports of cars being driven in an anti-social manner.
“In addition, officers came across a crash on Beach Boulevard at the junction with Links Road around 9.50pm. No one was injured.”
At the meet last month on Saturday, 18 June, 2022, Eight men, aged between 18 and 31, were issued Fixed Penalty Notices in relation to road traffic offences.
Three men, aged 18, 19 and 21, were issued with anti-social driving warnings, meaning their cars can be seized if they commit further offences.
A 26-year-old female was reported to the Procurator Fiscal for a road traffic offence and a 21-year-old man was charged in connection with drug offences and will appear in court at a later date.
Constable Ritchie, of North East Road Policing Unit said: “Our prime focus is reducing road traffic collisions on North East roads and influencing driver behaviour, given the large number of people that attended this event it was reassuring that the majority of attendees acted in a responsible manner.
“These events cause a significant disruption to the road network and surrounding community and we will continue to work with partners to encourage that these events take place on private land.”
