RESIDENTS of a street in Blackwood claim council measures do not go far enough in dealing with boy racers who gather in the town's car parks.

Caerphilly council has amended regulation orders for 22 of its car parks to allow excess charge notices (fixed penalty fines) to be sent by post. This will enable offences to be observed by CCTV and recorded.

They have also promised that car parks that do not have permanently installed CCTV may be observed either by a mobile CCTV van or by council or police officers on patrol. And amendments have been made which will make it illegal for people to stay in the car park, either in or outside a car.

But Dean and Allyson Gilson, of William Street, which is situated directly below the High Street car park, believe the new measures will not solve the problem. Mr Gilson said: "A £30 fine isn't going to deter the boy racers and car cruisers from congregating in the car park.

"We just want the car park closed from 8.30pm because we can't see any other way of the problem going. It's not like any people use the car park at night, apart from the car cruisers, because people are scared to leave their vehicle there."

Mrs Gilson said: "At the end of the day they cannot determine the speed of cars and the volume of a car stereo from CCTV footage, anyway."

PC Mark Matthews, of Blackwood police said: "Hopefully, with the new system, people who are going to the car park and committing offences will be getting fines through the post. I'm sure people will not want to accumulate too many of those."

He added: "If the new regulations are not enforceable, perhaps the council may want to go down the road of considering shutting the car park at night."

Cabinet member for planning Councillor John Taylor said: "The new regulations will improve the lives of many residents living close to problem car parks in the area. Ongoing experiments with CCTV parking enforcement in London have been quite successful, so we are confident this new drive will help make a real difference."