Essex residents had thought their boy-racer worries were over when the council spent £5,000 to buy two CCTV cameras, only to find out they couldn't be installed due to health and safety requirements.
Had the cameras been installed, they would have captured the scores of cruisers that descended on Roscommon Way in Canvey Island over the weekend to race down the new £18million road in their pimped-up cars.
The event prompted residents to contact the police after being kept awake all night by their noise. George Whatley, of Limburg Road said, "The boy racers came out in full force at the weekend, despite promises from the authorities that this is under control.
The cameras are all ready and waiting, but they can't go up as the council wants to do health and safety assessments to see if the street lights can take the weight of them. It's ridiculous – they're not heavy at all. People are going to get fed up and start taking things into their own hands. It’s bureaucracy gone mad."
If the cameras don't pass the safety checks, the county council could have to fork out extra cash for new poles to put them on, meaning the project could cost £20,500.
The safety checks were requested by the Castle Point local highways panel. Canvey county councillor Ray Howard, who chairs the panel, is frustrated by the bureaucracy. Mr Howard said, "The racers came from miles around and the manager of Morrisons couldn’t close the gates of the car park. This is unacceptable behaviour.
What’s frustrating is we have got the money for the cameras, and purchased them, and then they dither over whether we can put them on the lamp posts or not. It’s ludicrous we have to go through all these obstacles to get anything done. Now they're talking about having to buy two support poles, which cost more money than the cameras themselves. This is health and safety gone out of control."
