‘Boy racer’ gatherings prompt calls for nighttime closure of Tipperary Tesco car park
There have been calls for a Tipperary supermarket to close off its car park at night to stop large numbers of boy racers gathering there.
It was claimed that the car park at the Tesco outlet on the Inner Relief Road in Clonmel is a regular gathering spot for people with modified cars, which is impacting on local residents.
At the July meeting of the Clonmel Borough District, Mayor of Clonmel Siobhán Ambrose called on the council to write to Tesco to see if they could install barriers to close off the car park at night.
“I’ve received numerous complaints in relation to boy racers at night going in around Tesco, and it’s just very, very difficult for residents nearby who are trying to get up for work the next day,” she said.
“So I’m proposing that we write to Tesco just to ask them if they could put up a barrier there,” Cllr Ambrose said.
“Dunnes did it before because there were issues with Dunnes on the Davis Road, and they put up barriers, so we’re looking for similar if Tesco would do so,” she added.
The call was backed by Cllr Pat English, who said it wasn’t the first time the issue had come up.
“We’ve raised this before in relation to Tesco, and I’d agree with you, I’ve been contacted by a number of residents of the estates adjoining it, and they are finding it very hard to sleep at night and everything else with the amount of blackguarding that’s going on there,” he said.
“I’d agree entirely that we write to the management there,” the Workers and Unemployed Action Group (WUAG) councillor added.
The issue was also raised at a district meeting late last year, when then-Mayor of Clonmel Pat English called on drivers of modified cars to “have some respect” for people getting up for work.
Fine Gael councillor John Fitzgerald said at the time that there was a “boy racer rat run” through the town of Clonmel, saying that residents of Colville Road had raised issues with him.
The proposal at this month’s meeting was agreed by councillors and will now be referred to the Clonmel Borough District administrative team, which will draft a letter to Tesco outlining the concerns raised.