Police patrols will target an anti-social behaviour hotspot in Stowmarket after litter, group gatherings and cars racing were reported near to the Tesco superstore.

Reports of the behaviour in Cedars Link Road and the neighbouring Tesco car park have been going on for weeks, and Suffolk police have started to carry out targeted patrols and concentrated action on the area.

Parts of the car park have since been closed overnight, traffic offences have been issued and cars seized.

Stowmarket community engagement office, PC Stefan Henriksen said the police are working to curtail the behaviour.

He said: “We’ve been getting reports of people using their cars in an anti-social manner, revving engines, wheel spinning and doing handbreak turns.

“Not only are we targeting our patrols for that sort of area, we are working with Tesco to make sure anything and everything will be reported. We have stopped dozens and dozens of vehicles, not to say we have taken action against all of those, but we have often given words of advice but we have also given out traffic offence reports for road related offences.

“We’ve have had targeted evenings of action as well, as we are aware that most of this will go on into the evenings.”

There have also been concerns by locals of group gatherings especially during the second Covid-19 lockdown.

Despite PC Henriksen saying that the offenders have mostly been individuals, district councillor Gerard Brewster said that he is concerned about the reports.

“With the Covid-19 situation, these times are difficult,” he said.

“We got anti-social behaviour when we weren’t in this situation but young people should have gained responsibility in terms of the anti-social behaviour and especially the social distancing given the law at the moment.”

A Tesco spokesperson said: “We’ve been working closely with local residents groups and the police on measures to deter anti-social behaviour in the car park of our Stowmarket store. These include displaying enforcement notices and installing barriers to close sections of the car park overnight.”

Officers are asking locals to help them tackle the problem by reporting any anti-social behaviour they see by calling 101.