POLICE have vowed to tackle nuisance boy racers using a Canvey road as a racetrack by installing speed traps.

Residents have been facing at least two years of misery because hundreds of drivers speed up and down Roscommon Way late at night.

The noise and antisocial behaviour has eased off in the last year after CCTV cameras were installed to try and identify the people responsible. However, town councillor Jay Blissett said racers are continuing to congregate on the road with their souped-up engines to fly up and down the straight road.

She brought up the issue at a public meeting, attended by Roger Hirst, Essex’s Police and Crime Commissioner, and Chief Insp Glen Westley, district commander for Castle Point and Rochford, on Tuesday night.

Mr Westley agreed to take action next summer, when boy racers are likely to turn up once more.

Following the meeting, Ms Blissett told the Echo: “It’s not as bad as it was, but we had a nice summer and it happened quite a few times.

“You don’t know when it is going to happen, they just turn up. I live in the Dutch village and that’s close enough - you can hear them revving their engines. I feel sorry for the people whose homes back onto it. I know it’s horrendous because people always talk to me about it when I am around that way.

“I think people must have given up phoning police but it is important that they do.”

Mr Westley spoke out at the meeting and said: “Roscommon Way is a road that goes out on its own and is a natural rat run. Canvey is a unique place and is very close-knit community so there is a chance that people on the island know who these people are. I am aware that there is a problem in the summer months.

“There may be opportunities for ANPR cameras there and a speed trap. We will explore these when the summer comes along.”

Anyone with information about nuisance vehicles on Canvey, particularly in Roscommon Way, can contact the Castle Point and Rochford community policing team by calling 101 or reporting online via essex.police.uk/do-it-online