A COUPLE who cut short an overnight stay in the North-East after finding themselves surrounded by “boy racers”

are to be offered a complimentary return trip.

Members of Bishop Auckland Town Council have agreed to pay for a night’s accommodation and provide free tickets for a Proms In The Park event this summer, after receiving an email complaint from the visitors.

They said their stay in Bishop Auckland was ruined by cars racing around a “circuit”

of the town centre.

The email, from Allan Bacon, who visited the town on Saturday, April 10, with his partner, praised the Queen’s Head Hotel, where they stayed, and the town centre in daytime.

But he described it as a “living hell” once night descended.

The couple said they feared for the safety of their car, parked in a long-stay car park in North Bondgate as groups of cars circled the car park, revved their engines loudly, and performed handbrake turns.

The couple, from Stoke-on- Trent, also complained about cars with loud exhausts doing high-speed circuits around the town centre.

They only stayed for a few hours before setting off home at 10.30pm.

Bishop Auckland Town Council has sent an apology to the couple.

At a council meeting on Tuesday, Councillor Charlie Kay said: “Police need to take this seriously. They need to lay it on the line and let the boy racers know that if they come to Bishop Auckland they will be nicked.”

Inspector Martin Peace, neighbourhood inspector for Bishop Auckland, said the police were working with Durham County Council and other partners to tackle the problem.

He said the drivers were not just young males, but also females and older people.

“This is not solely a police issue, it is a partnership issue, where we all need to come together,” said Insp Peace.

“We are planning several operations, including one where we will take cars off anyone acting anti-socially.

“We do try to deal with cars doing the circuit at weekends, but our priority has to be licensing. If there is a limited number of police officers, sometimes we do not have the staff to do both.”

Raj Devgan, chairman of the Bishop Auckland Town Centre Licensing Association, and proprietor of the Queen’s Head Hotel, said: “Regrettably, our visitors’ night-time experience was curtailed by a small number of people.

“While I sympathise with Mr Bacon, their experiences do not reflect a true experience of night-life in Bishop Auckland.”