Kings Hall Road Beckenham: Concerns over speeding boy racers
Kings Hall Road sits in Beckenham, between Kent House and New Beckenham train stations. The road is known for its beautiful houses, selling for up to GBP1.6m according to Rightmove, but has become notorious for residents in recent years for speeding cars and reckless driving. Alka Sharma, 49, lives on the bend of Kings Hall Road.
Kings Hall Road The mum said speeding on the road has gotten so bad that last year a pizza delivery driver crashed into the wall of her driveway. Ms Sharma told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “They were racing and then one of them, he was just 18 or 19, very young, just smashed it.
“He was very, very lucky because of the wall and the tree. He didn’t go any further and the car just stopped.” She added: “That was quite a serious incident and luckily, because of the utility pole outside, he didn’t hit anyone.
There was one car that was hit slightly but there were no lives lost and nobody was majorly injured… It was quite scary. We felt how unsafe one could be.”
Becky Woods, 43, lives on Kings Hall Road with her family and said the street has become a rat run for drivers wishing to get around the nearby railway lines. She said locals have been complaining to Bromley[1] Council about the issue for years in the hopes of seeing speed bumps being added, but the problem has still not been addressed. The mum told the LDRS: “A lot of parents probably worry for the safety of their children.
My children are on scooters and bikes slightly ahead of us while we’re walking, cars are coming flying down… It is a matter of time before there’s a nasty accident on this road if people don’t slow down. But there’s nothing that we can do as residents other than keep asking.”
Ms Woods added that theft had also become an issue on the road in recent months, including problems with cars being stolen and people breaking into residents’ sheds and houses. Met Police data showed that nine robberies and two cases of vehicle crime were reported on Kings Hall Road and surrounding streets in October this year. Jennifer Kafcas, 52, has lived on Kings Hall Road for 13 years and said speeding has gotten “insane” in recent years.
She said many boy racers speed down the road, sometimes on the wrong side of the street, and locals fear someone may soon lose their life. Ms Kafcas told the LDRS: “We don’t let our kids play out here because we’re worried. One time we were driving out and the guy just drove right on the sidewalk to get around.
“The kids were playing, if a kid was sitting there they would’ve been run over… Then the guy chased us down and threatened my husband, to beat him up. The kids were crying.
I filmed it, he was telling me he was going to kill me. It was horrible.” She added: “Lately, there’s also been a lot of properties broken into.
A couple of weeks ago, they stole my son’s tennis bag and all of our stuff out of the car. “It is what it is, crime is going to get worse… I would say in the last couple of months, 10 houses have been hit.”
Amanda Lawson, 48, has lived on Kings Hall Road for 11 years and said despite the problems with speeding, the street has a lovely community and everybody looks out for each other. However, her family have experienced first-hand the recent rise in crime on the street. Ms Lawson told the LDRS: “We had someone banging on the door at 4.58am on Sunday.
It literally scared the life out of us, just banging. We were all in and the kids were in. He was just banging on the door and I think that he tried on other doors as well.”
Labour councillors Simon Jeal, Kathy Bance and Kevin Kennedy-Brooks, who represent the Penge and Cator ward for Bromley Council, told the LDRS they were aware of the large number of children and road safety issues on Kings Hall Road and have engaged with residents to lobby Bromley Council for several years. They said Transport for London (TfL) funding had allowed for a pedestrian crossing and 20 mph zone to be added on the southern end of the street, but acknowledged that residents remained concerned. They added: “We have also been raising the rise in crime around the area with our safer neighbourhood policing team.
After we raised a series of thefts from sheds in the area with police we were pleased to hear they recently identified and arrested the individual responsible, we have been assured Penge and Cator will be getting additional officers deployed here to assist in tackling these issues, so we hope to see more cases like this of committing offences locally being caught and prosecuted.” Inspector Michelle Pryal, from the local neighbourhood policing team for the Penge and Cator ward, told the LDRS: “We know anti-social behaviour has a negative impact on communities and tackling it is at the heart of our work to build our strongest ever neighbourhood policing response across London. “We are making good process and have seen an 18per cent reduction in anti-social behaviour calls in Penge and Cator ward over the past year.
In recent months we have been specifically targeting burglary and speeding drivers.” She added: “However we understand the frustration of residents and recognise there is more to do and we will continue to have officers patrolling the area to respond to issues and deal with crime. We are increasing the number of neighbourhood officers across London and are working closely with partners, including Bromley Council, to address safety concerns.”
Bromley Council was approached for comment but had not responded at the time of publication.