A local authority says it has had no reports of nuisance boy racers on a notorious road since an AI-enhanced camera was installed to stop them.

Crossways Boulevard, in Greenhithe near Dartford, has been known as a hotspot for dangerous driving and street racing.

Dartford council agreed in May to introduce a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) across the whole borough, which made driving in convoys, excessively revving or honking of horns, wheel spins, street racing, and other uses of cars as a nuisance punishable by fines of up to £1,000.

At the end of October last year, the council installed an AI-assisted camera at Crossways Boulevard, similar to ones used to catch fly-tippers near Birchwood golf course.

Just before the PSPO came into force, Kent Police also launched Operation Wallabies - cracking down on car meets on Friday and Saturday evenings.

This was after video footage has emerged of boy racers performing doughnuts in front of spectators – some of which had even brought deckchairs.

The operation led to 18 drivers reported for speeding offences, four threatened with their cars being seized if they took part in antisocial behaviour again within a year, 36 fines and 40 warnings being issued.

A council officer told members of the council's crime and disorder committee that the AI-enhanced camera is “programmed for specific offences” - automatically detecting when vehicles drive dangerously or violate the PSPO rules.

The camera also uses ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) to log the registration plates of cars used to violate the rules, which are tied to the personal details of the vehicle’s owner.

Council documents boast: “Since the erection of this camera there have been no calls to Kent Police or Dartford CSU (Community Safety Unit) in relation to any noise caused by nuisance vehicles at Crossways Boulevard to date.”

“Obviously it did work, and it has worked as a deterrent as well.

“Since that camera’s been in place we’ve had no calls to Kent Police relating to nuisance vehicles in the Crossways Boulevard area.

“We've put a lot of time and resources into this but we’ve got the outcome we wanted and it’s actually been really beneficial to the local community because we know it was causing them significant concern.”

The ward councillor for the area - Peter Harman (Alliance), who has campaigned for years to stop the problem of boy racers, also praised the project, saying: “It was a real major issue in Swanscombe and Greenhithe as people know, it went on for a long long time.

“When you got together and tackled it, it stopped it almost overnight, it was amazing.”

Cllr Tom Oliver (Cons) told members that drag racing on Bob Dunn Way “stopped overnight” with the introduction of the PSPO too.

Another council officer told members that they see potential for similar schemes to spread around the county.

But they have seen some of the problem being displaced to Medway and so the council there is now in the process of implementing a consultation process around their own PSPO.

The committee was told that some drivers used to travel from as far away as Derbyshire to come to Dartford for the car meets.

Acting Inspector Nick Grainger, of Kent Police, told committee members the crackdown “is seen as a flagship across the county.”

“Unfortunately with lots of crime we can displace it, in the borough we haven’t seen nearly the impact we saw at Crossways Boulevard.

“There have been attempts by groups to do similar activities across the borough, but we have continued to work on it, we have proactive patrols, and thankfully that has worked,” he added.