A car-meet at Porte Marsh Industrial Estate on Monday (28th Aug) is being investigated by after a police vehicle was left 'significantly damaged'.
Reports of a large group of people and cars gathering at Porte Marsh were made at about 8.40pm on Monday night.
Officers and PCSOS from Calne and Chippenham Neighbourhood Teams, alongside officers from Chippenham Response and a Road Policing Unit attended the area following reports of ongoing dangerous driving.
Police estimate there to have been about 100 people in attendance and during the 'meet' one police car had the tyres slashed.
Insp Pete Foster said: “Whilst we do not wish to prevent people meeting up with like-minded friends and enthusiasts, the sort of behaviour which took place on Monday night was unacceptable. One of our police vehicles had its tyres slashed during the incident and there were a number of dangerous manoeuvres and incidents of anti-social behaviour witnessed.
"Our officers are here to keep the public safe and we rely on our vehicles to respond quickly and efficiently to emergency situations and sadly, this mindless behaviour has left us short of a response vehicle to carry out our role.
“Fortunately, the gathering dispersed within approximately an hour and there were no serious collisions, however, the driving behaviours of those involved were completely unacceptable and we will be continuing with our enquiries to identify those involved in causing damage to one of our vehicles which has taken it off the roads for urgent repair work.
“We want to keep our roads as safe as possible for all road users and will continue to target those whose standard of driving falls below that expected of a competent driver.”
This followed a similar incident in the same area last Saturday (19th Aug) where a large number of vehicles gathered – however, on this occasion, officers engaged positively with those in attendance and there were no offences or anti-social behaviour witnessed.
PCSO Mark Cook, of the Calne Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “Vehicle related anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated in Calne and we would urge anyone who witnesses such behaviour to contact us via 101 or 999 in an emergency.”
Officers in Calne are now conducting CCTV enquiries.
Following the meet, Wiltshire RPU stopped one driver from Gloucester in his BMW M140i - they tweeted: 'Having visited from Gloucester, into Wiltshire, the driver could afford petrol for the juicy M140i to attend a 'Car meet' but isn't paying for their vehicle tax.' His car was seized at the scene.
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