A FATHER is pleading with police to patrol a car park at night as boy racers are preventing his disabled son from sleeping.

Alan Higby, 70, is worried for his son, who suffers from uncontrolled epilepsy, a condition worsened by lack of sleep.

His son, who is 34 and wishes to remain anonymous, lives in a flat overlooking Webster’s Way car park in Rayleigh.

Drivers have previously used the car park to drive in a manner that causes a nuisance to others and police have previously cracked down on the behaviour.

But now he feels more needs to be done as the problem has returned.

Mr Higby said: “We have all been young so this is not a denunciation of young people but these lads turn up somewhere between 11pm and midnight and just love racing their cars round the car park.

“The cars are equipped with incredibly loud exhaust systems and equally loud in-car sound systems.

“The noise is acceptable if they stopped at a reasonable time – but last Saturday it continued until 4.30am which made sleep impossible.

“We have complained to the police, but all we can gain from them is that the community police have been informed.

“The community team knock off at 10pm so I’m not sure what purpose this serves. Our complaints just seem to fall on deaf ears.

“All I am asking is if a patrol could drive past on their way back to the station which is 300 yards away.

“Or, failing that, maybe Rochford District Council could install some speed bumps to try and deter that kind of driving.”

Ward councillor for Trinity and member responsible for governance Cheryl Roe said she believes people need to make it clear to police that it is a problem.

She said: “At the moment, they like them being there because it’s lit and they know where they are.

“If it is antisocial and bothering people then we as a community need to make the police aware.

“The council know about the issues and have handed over CCTV so we’ve done our part.

“All I can suggest is to keep reporting it to the police and when they get fed up of hearing about it that is when something will be done.”