Hundreds of street racers descended on a new multi-million pound car park creating a no-go area for other motorists.

Street racers gathered in the Rochester Riverside multi-storey, on Saturday night, many of which were there to speed, drift, and perform stunts.

Police were called to the car park, which opened last April at a cost of £5 million, just after 10.30pm after reports of more than 200 cars filling up almost every level.

The Mayor of Medway, Cllr Stuart Tranter, was in the area at the time and said the motorists had created a “scary and threatening atmosphere” for other people.

“On Saturday night I just heard this unusually large number of cars driving around in Rochester and suspected something was going on,” he said.

“Mindful of the ongoing problem with ‘boy racers’ I thought I would drive down and take a look for myself.

I could not believe my eyes; the entire car park from the ground to the top floor was virtually full of cars – almost all modified for racing; too many to count but over 200 I would guess; and many hundreds of people, mostly young, milling about.

"Some cars were speeding, others just revving and squealing tyres."

“There were probably some genuine car enthusiasts there, but all the cars were modified, some of them were screeching their tyres, there were marks there showing where they had been doing donuts, and motorbikes were going round doing wheelies.

“The atmosphere was quite scary and would have been terrifying for anyone coming back on the train and collecting their car, apart from the problem of physically navigating past the cars and the people standing about.”

The Rochester Riverside car park opened following the re-location of the railway station. It provides 321 bays and 18 disabled bays for long-stay parking, ideal for visitors, shoppers and commuters.

Cllr Tranter fears street racers who previously used the Medway City Estate have decided to relocate to the car park, and is worried an accident similar to the one on the estate that left 15 people injured could happen again.

He continued: “Someone is going to get badly hurt as has happened before and I have to protect the purpose of the car park being there.

“We spent millions of pounds on it and it’s for normal people to park their cars. I don’t object to people racing cars, but not in public places or in a manner which could cause damage, injury or worse to others.”

Police were called to the car park at about 10.40pm, but Cllr Tranter said the atmosphere remained “threatening and agitated”, and claimed that some of the racers kicked his vehicle as he made his own way out.

His colleague Cllr Andrew Mackness, of River ward, where the car park is located, said he would soon be meeting with fellow councillors and community safety officers in the home of putting a stop to such gatherings.

He added: “The incident of a mass car gathering, racing and general misuse of this public space by irresponsible drivers is a serious concern and has been raised with officers once again.

“I will be asking council and community safety officers to meet with me next week and agree an approach to ensure further gatherings are avoided, and that this public nuisance is halted before getting completely out of control and a serious accident occurs.”

A police spokesman said some of the drivers were acting in an anti-social manner.

He added: "Police attended at 10.45pm to prevent further cars from arriving and to disperse those already there. Most of the vehicles had left by 11.40pm. Officers are reviewing CCTV footage and carrying out further enquiries into any offences."