Stevenage Borough Council is seeking court action to ban the car meets which left 18 people injured after a horror crash in July.

%image(15634044, type="article-full", alt="Tyre marks seen at the Roaring Meg car park near the scene of a crash on Monkswood Way. Picture: YUI MOK/PA")

The July 18 crash occurred during a Cruise Herts Thursday Night Takeover meet - a modified car club which organised weekly meets for 17 years.

Two cars collided on Monkswood Way, between the junctions of London Road and Broadhall Way, with one swerving onto the central reservation before both ploughed into a crowd of onlookers.

In total, 18 people were injured.

Cruise Herts announced afterwards that it would it be hosting no further car meets, but the council is taking steps to ban them regardless.

%image(15634045, type="article-full", alt="The accident in July was described by residents as "inevitable" having campaigned against the car meets for years. Picture: YUI MOK/PA")

Sharon Taylor, leader of Stevenage Borough Council, said: "Following the incident at the car meet in July which left 18 young people injured we have taken legal advice to prepare a case file and instructed a barrister to apply for an injunction to prevent such events happening again.

"We're expecting a court date where we can hopefully put that in place.

"For any other event that you organise in Stevenage you would go through our safety advisory team, which is a joint co-operation between the council, police, highways and other agencies to seek their advice.

"It is simply not acceptable for people to be able to organise events in public places without having those safety measures in place."

%image(15634046, type="article-full", alt="Herts police confirm no arrests have been made in connection with the crash. Picture: Danny Loo/TGS Photo")

She added: "I don't want any other families to go through the physical and psychological trauma experienced by those involved and I do think that longer term legislative solutions are the best way to prevent such an awful accident from happening again."

Stevenage Borough Council and Herts Police came under criticism for not doing more to prevent the incident, with a number of residents describing the crash as "inevitable".

Peter Gates, who lives in St Margarets, told the Comet in July: "I complained to the council and the police last year, when they used to meet in the showground, because they were racing at 60 to 70 miles an hour down Broadhall Way.

"It didn't take a lot of imagination to work out there could be a serious accident."

%image(15634047, type="article-full", alt="Police markings on Monkswood Way as seen after the crash in July. Picture: Danny Loo/TGS Photo")

Herts police have confirmed that no arrests have been made at this time, but investigations continue.