RESIDENTS in Lanarkshire are calling for a ban on a 'Fast and Furious' style car meet following complaints that streets are being turned into a racetrack.

The Big Birkenshaw Takeover, which is organised by the Lanarkshire Outlawz group, brings hundreds of car enthusiasts to a retail park close to a housing estate in Birkenshaw.

The events see cars race along public roads and do "doughnuts" on the street at the unlicensed events, the Daily Record reports.

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Ahead of an event on Saturday night, which attracted hundreds of people, a local B&M store even hired a security team and spent thousands on emergency fencing to keep cars out of its car park. 

Now, locals are calling for a ban on the takeovers which have been described as "menacing" and even caused one family to move.

One resident at Second Avenue in Birkenshaw told the Daily Record: "The event has been pretty menacing in the past and noise has been so loud that several people have been forced to move out of their homes for the night.

"One woman moved out because it was distressing her daughter, who is disabled, and another couple of residents had to take their dogs away because they were getting more traumatised than they would on a firework night.

"The event on Saturday night was nowhere near as bad as the previous one because there was a very visible police presence at this one but we just don’t want them coming back again and getting up to the old tricks."

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The Birkenshaw event is one of many in the growing scene, that has led to the takeover of car parks in places like Hamilton, Strathclyde Park and Chatelherault Park.

Local councillor Helen Loughran is pleading with South Lanarkshire Council and Police Scotland to keep the events out of Birkenshaw. 

She told the Daily Record:  "This event has been a blight on the local community and something that people have come to dread.

"It is set up to be a Fast and Furious event and that’s totally acceptable for a quiet residential area."

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Ahead of the event on Saturday, organiser William Reid pleaded with attendees on Facebook not to break the law. 

After the event, he posted: "Can’t thank everyone enough who came along yesterday to this meet, especially with the problems we had surrounding the event.

"We had the locals from the houses down wanting to pick on something to throw the book at us with MSP /police and we proved them all wrong that it wasn’t our group that had caused problems down here."

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "As with all events, we work closely with all our local partners to ensure an appropriate policing plan is in place."