Complaints raised over noisy motorbikes

They say incidents of noisy motorbikes are spreading across the county town as youngsters remove baffles from their machines to make them noisier.

BAFFLED? — Dorchester town councillors are.

They say incidents of noisy motorbikes are spreading across the county town as youngsters remove baffles from their machines to make them noisier.

Town Mayor Les Fry recounted trying to get a picture of one of the offenders on his phone.

“He leant around and covered the number plate with his hand very quickly. I wasn’t fast enough to take the photo,” said the town’s first citizen at a town council meeting.

Cllr Fry said that the irony of removing baffles to make machines sound more powerful and faster was obviously lost on those involved: “It actually makes them slower,” he said.

Several other councillors also spoke about noisy motorbikes.

Cllr Kate Reid said she had helped residents try and report the issue — but said that making a report had been difficult, trying to work out which category the police would deal with it under — either as a motoring offence, or anti-social behaviour.

“It is more than annoying people. It seems to be a growing trend this year. People do complain about it but when I say to report it to the police they often say it’s not worth doing.”

Acting Sgt Tom Harness said he would encourage residents to make a report together with any description and times.

He said noisy motorbikes, which had been deliberately altered, were most likely to be classed as anti-social behaviour.