Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To want tougher punishments for noisy cars

36 replies

Dappy777 · 26/05/2026 22:04

In this hot weather I have my bedroom windows wide open. Every single night I am woken by noisy cars and motorbikes. Last night I was woken up at 1am, 5:30am and then again at six. The noise is so loud and piercing that even earplugs don’t help. The engines screech when they accelerate, and then the exhausts pop and bang when they slow down. It’s driving me f-ing mad.

WHY do people do this? WHY do they modify their vehicles to make so much noise? And WHY do they then drive around night? Do they get a kick out of upsetting people? Is it spite? Or is it just that they like the attention? I can hear them right now as I type.😡

OP posts:
JohnofWessex · 27/05/2026 15:16

Why dont we do what they do in Germany and require all car mods to be approved by a qualified engineer.

I suggest we need much stricter rules about all car modifications

There are now some 'noise cameras' to pick up modified vehicles, we need more and sieze and crush modified vehicles

ComtesseDeSpair · 27/05/2026 15:11

As a motorbiker, I do kind of defend loud cans: so many drivers aren’t like looking out for bikes (even though mine is bright red) that being heard and attracting drivers’ attention can literally be a lifesaver. Modified car exhausts - yeah, I agree pretty indefensible in urban areas.

Locutus2000 · 27/05/2026 15:11

Tollington · 26/05/2026 22:35

They think that they are driving high powered race cars when in fact they are driving a shitty little 1.2 Fiesta with 4D plates. It’s the latest chav craze that will hopefully die of death very soon

To be fair, the widespread expansion in leases means plenty of the boy racers are driving genuinely fast cars, a recipe for disaster.

StripyHorse · 27/05/2026 15:03

YANBU

NDN is bad enough with his Mercedes with a loud engine (which makes a lovely noise when he reverses off the driveway at 6:10 am every day 😠). I really cannot fathom why anyone would modify their car to make it louder!

TheKittenswithMittens · 27/05/2026 14:39

Presumably the cars have been modified? Therefore, invalid insurance.

Original poster
Dappy777 · 27/05/2026 14:39

EmeraldRoulette · 26/05/2026 22:06

@Dappy777 there aren't any punishments at all that I can see

and yes, I think they do get a kick out of upsetting people.

I really feel for you. Are they on your street?

I had a lot more of that in my London flat than I do here thank goodness. However, they do use the nearest main road. It's partly about racing and partly about showing off with the noise. It's always in the middle of the night. I'm a bad sleeper so I tend to hear it.

Edited

No, not on my street. In fact, I think some of them are at least a mile away, which just shows you how loud they are. We live in the countryside, on the edge of a town, and they fly up and down the main road into that town.

The police just do nothing. It’s like they’ve decided they can’t be bothered to stop them. No one is expecting them to divert massive resources, but if they’d just stop one or two and fine them, news would spread on the idiot grapevine.

OP posts:
Original poster
Dappy777 · 27/05/2026 14:36

EmeraldRoulette · 26/05/2026 22:08

Also, I don't know that times of night are that significant in that I think these people do it all day. Utter wankers.

I was waiting at a busy bus stop in London, one of those places where there are two bus stops together because there are lots of routes going off it

One car came along with such a heavily modified engine, and I don't know what he did to it but it suddenly made it such a huge noise, everyone at both bus stops jumped in the air

there was a choice selection of words yelled after him. That was probably about 9 pm on a summer evening

could see him laughing in the car. Because he couldn't actually go fast and get far so we could see him.

Edited

I’m sure they enjoy it. I wish I could understand what is going on in their minds. I get that some people like cars and motorbikes. And that’s fine. If you work hard and save your money, then go for it. Buy a classic car, or your dream bike, and enjoy. But why tamper with it so it makes hideous screeching, exploding sounds?

I suspect part of it is sheer nastiness - a pleasure in waking people up or making them jump, etc. But I suspect others just like the attention. You know, like some horrible little kid who shouts and throws things until everyone looks at him.

OP posts:
Tollington · 26/05/2026 22:35

They think that they are driving high powered race cars when in fact they are driving a shitty little 1.2 Fiesta with 4D plates. It’s the latest chav craze that will hopefully die of death very soon

EmeraldRoulette · 26/05/2026 22:08

Also, I don't know that times of night are that significant in that I think these people do it all day. Utter wankers.

I was waiting at a busy bus stop in London, one of those places where there are two bus stops together because there are lots of routes going off it

One car came along with such a heavily modified engine, and I don't know what he did to it but it suddenly made it such a huge noise, everyone at both bus stops jumped in the air

there was a choice selection of words yelled after him. That was probably about 9 pm on a summer evening

could see him laughing in the car. Because he couldn't actually go fast and get far so we could see him.

EmeraldRoulette · 26/05/2026 22:06

@Dappy777 there aren't any punishments at all that I can see

and yes, I think they do get a kick out of upsetting people.

I really feel for you. Are they on your street?

I had a lot more of that in my London flat than I do here thank goodness. However, they do use the nearest main road. It's partly about racing and partly about showing off with the noise. It's always in the middle of the night. I'm a bad sleeper so I tend to hear it.

XenoBitch · 26/05/2026 22:06

Everything sounds louder at night.

Swipe left for the next trending thread