Boy racers have become a problem during late-night car meets at Alton Retail Park in Mill Lane.

Police were told of disturbances caused by the meets on three successive weekends this month.

On Sunday, October 2, at 10.42pm, it was reported that around 100 cars were in the car park, being driven at excessive speed, in an anti-social manner and causing noise disturbance.

A similar gathering on Saturday, October 8, was broken up by police at 10.03pm when the same problems were being caused but the number of cars had swelled to 400, blocking Mill Lane including the retail park’s entrance and exit.

A third incident of mass noisy anti-social speeding was reported shortly after 10.30pm on Saturday, October 15, but this time the number of cars had dropped to 50.

Sgt Rob Jones, from Alton’s neighbourhood policing team, said: “While the majority of car enthusiasts are passionate but law-abiding, we have seen car meets recently where a minority have acted irresponsibly and illegally, including street racing, excessive noise and driving in a way that endangers spectators and the general public.

“We would like to reassure communities that we continue to proactively monitor information and intelligence, and we are increasing patrols in the area where possible.

“We are engaging with businesses, partners and the car meet community in tackling this issue and continue to make enquiries to identify the landowner.

“We continue to encourage residents to report anti-social use of vehicles by calling 101 or reporting online at www.hampshire. police.uk”