Police are once again trying to crack down on speeding drivers who use the Medway City Estate as a race track.

Officers have responded to residents’ concerns about nuisance vehicles on the industrial estate at night, by implementing a weekly dispersal order.

It will operate every Friday evening but can last for up to 48 hours.

The order gives officers the power to break up groups of people caught driving in an antisocial manner. Anyone who returns to the area within 24 hours risks being arrested.

One local resident, who contacted the Messenger this week, said she could hear the boy racers, who congregate on the industrial estate on Friday and Saturday evenings, from her home in Frindsbury, and is terrified there will be a crash.

The woman, who does not want to be named, said: “I can hear them from around 8pm almost every weekend. And it goes on until 3.30am sometimes. You can tell how fast they are going and then you can hear them skidding.

“I ring 101 and hold the phone out to the operator, and even they can hear it over the phone.

“It is frightening. It puts me on edge all the time because you are expecting to hear a crash.”

A six-month dispersal zone was introduced on the estate in June 2014.

More recently, Eddie Bates, who lives in Station Road, complained about boy racers doing a circuit from Strood Retail Park to the Medway City Estate and back again.

A speed camera was reinstalled on Frindsbury Hill in July following a campaign which was prompted by boy racers heading to the estate.

But the resident who spoke to the Messenger this week said the reappearance of the camera has not stopped them.

She added: “They just slow down for the camera and then speed up again.”

A police spokesman said: “Dispersal orders must be supported by evidence before they can be implemented, with Friday evenings identified as being the time when nuisance motorists were most likely to gather on the estate.

“We take all reports of antisocial behaviour seriously, and people who drive in an antisocial manner at other times of the week may still be prosecuted or have their vehicles taken away from them.

“Anyone who wishes to report nuisance vehicles can do so by calling police on 101.”