More than 60 warning letters have been issued to people who took part in an illegal car meet where spectators stood inside a ring of fire while drivers ‘drifted’ their vehicles around them.

CCTV footage showed four cars sliding around a dozen people who stood inside the 20ft-wide circle of flames at a trading estate in Flitwick, Bedfordshire. 

The cars did a number of circuits, with their rear ends coming within inches of hundreds of spectators who were standing around to watch the event.

Police have issued fines to 63 drivers whose number plates they were able to spot in enlarged images from CCTV of the dangerous stunt during the car meet, which had been staged after dark on the Lyall Court industrial estate on 13 January.

Gordon Tyler, the owner of Flitwick Mowers, which recorded the footage, said: ‘There’s gas pipes here, petrol here. It’s dangerous.’

More than 60 warning letters have been issued to people who took part in an illegal car meet where spectators stood inside a ring of fire while drivers ‘drifted’ their vehicles around them

He added: ‘They believe they are experienced drivers but it only takes one of them to go wrong and they will be [driving] into the building.’ 

Business owners complained the illegal gatherings were a regular occurrence and police had failed to crack down on them properly.

One, Simon Cooper, said: ‘They are down here for hours on end. I can hear them from the other side of Flitwick at times.’

Adding he was concerned someone would be killed, he said: ‘These car meets damage private property and cause a huge amount of distress to local residents.’

A worker, who asked not to be named, said: ‘Warning letters are a joke. It won’t stop them from coming – they can just turn up in other cars or remove the [number] plates.

‘I was wincing at the video. A few inches further and a load of people could have been wiped out.’

Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service said a crew from Ampthill Fire Station were diverted from a serious road traffic accident as they attended the industrial estate at about 11pm on January 13 after reports of a fire.

But, by the time they arrived, the circle of flames had already burned itself out.

CCTV footage showed four cars sliding around a dozen people who stood inside the 20ft-wide circle of flames at a trading estate in Flitwick, Bedfordshire

The cars did a number of circuits, with their rear ends coming within inches of hundreds of spectators who were standing around to watch the event

A spokesman said: ‘We ask members of the public to think before their actions, which potentially tie up emergency services when they are required to attend other incidents.’

Central Bedfordshire councillor Heather Townsend criticised the drivers for wasting the fire service’s time and damaging business property.

She said: ‘These car meets damage private property and cause a huge amount of distress to local residents.’

Speaking days after the event, where a vehicle collided with a lamppost and the Tarmac was left charred by the fire, the county’s police and crime commissioner, Festus Akinbusoye, said he had recommended that officers ‘use all possible powers available to them.’

Car meets had left to fatalities in Cheshire, the West Midlands and Oxfordshire, he pointed out, adding: ‘Nineteen people were left badly injured in Stevenage in a car meet [in 2019].’

But no arrests were made following the dangerous stunt in January and police – who confirmed there had been a number of traffic offences – have instead now issued 63 Community Protection Notice Warnings to the registered owners of the cars that were present.

PC Mark Anstey criticised the ‘anti-social behaviour,’ saying: ‘The CPNWs have been issued with the explicit instruction that the owners of the vehicles must not attend, arrange or promote any unauthorised car meets in the future, otherwise further action can be taken against them.

Business owners complained the illegal gatherings were a regular occurrence and police had failed to crack down on them properly

Speaking days after the event, where a vehicle collided with a lamppost and the Tarmac was left charred by the fire, the county’s police and crime commissioner, Festus Akinbusoye, said he had recommended that officers ‘use all possible powers available to them’

‘We will carry out more stringent action if this behaviour continues. The safety of the community is our priority.’

The ‘sport’ of drifting – where the driver deliberately oversteers, causing the rear wheels or all four wheels to lose traction while maintaining control – became popular in Japan in the 1970s and spread from there.

But the practice began at least two decades earlier in professional motorsport. Ferrari founder Enzo Ferrari credited Italian driver Tazio Nuvolari of inventing four-wheel drift, and Sir Stirling Moss used the technique on bends in F1 races.

It comes after drivers were warned last October that they could be fined thousands of pounds for committing 11 unusual offences that they may be completely unaware of.

A TikTok posted by Rooster Car Insurance has warned motorists that they could be fined should they fall foul of different driving laws, which are among the more unusual listed on the Highway Code – such as splashing pedestrians.