Leicestershire Police have unveiled new equipment to tackle car cruising across the county.

Driver behaviour at meets is "proving extremely dangerous" and is "putting lives at risk", a force spokesperson said.

Just this month, dozens of cars reportedly took part in racing on the A453 at Castle Donington in the early hours of a Sunday morning. A member of the public phoned the police with reports of between 40 and 50 vehicles there at the time, though police said these were not present when their officers attended.

The alleged racing came despite powers being in place in Castle Donington to shut down such meets, with anyone found partaking in these facing fines.

Such gatherings have long plagued the area, with "almost weekly reports" of them in the village in the first half of 2024.

These would attract "anywhere between 10 and 100 vehicles" and "around double" the number of spectators, councillors were told when they met to debate the new powers for the village. Leicestershire Police has now set out a new approach to dealing with car cruising across the city, county and Rutland as a whole.

A post on its Facebook page states the force has now bought two "state-of-the-art" speed cameras to tackle speeding and illegal racing across the area under its jurisdiction. These have been funded through developer contributions paid to the force as part of the local planning processes.

The spokesperson said: "We have bought two 'Trucam2' cameras approved by the Home Office. These cameras combine a speed detecting radar with a video recording function. They can be used to capture offences; record moving footage and provide a high-definition image which can be processed without the need to stop the vehicles at the scene."

They added: "Speeding at car meets across the force area has prompted complaints and some driver behaviour is proving extremely dangerous putting lives at risk. Officers have also sent warning letters to offending motorists and seized vehicles. We would also ask members of the public to keep reporting offences so we can continue to take action."