'This is about saving lives' - Wolverhampton MP backs our petition for Ben's Law to ban street racing
Another MP has backed our campaign for new laws banning street racing, in memory of two teenagers who were killed at an unofficial car meet in the Black Country.
Warinder Juss, MP for Wolverhampton West, said he fully supported the Express & Star's Ben's Law campaign in memory of 19-year-old Ben Corfield and his friend Liberty Charris, 16, who were killed when a car being driven at speed crashed into a group of pedestrians.
Ben's father Damian, who is a councillor in Dudley, has called for a new law which would make it a criminal offence to participate, attend, organise or promote car meetings in public places.
He also called for the maximum sentence to be increased from two years to five years in prison.
The Express & Star has launched a petition in support of the new law, which can be signed here: https://chng.it/SxpmYB8gZJ.
Mr Juss said he was fully behind the petition, which has so far attracted more than 800 signatures since it was launched on Tuesday.
“The campaign for Ben’s Law has my support," he said. "This is about saving lives and sending a clear message: our streets are not race tracks.
"Not long ago my wife saw a group of people at the side of the road, and she thought it looked like they organised a race.
"These people are putting the safety of the public at risk. We need to target the organisers as well as the drivers, because it is they who are allowing this to happen."
Ben, from Sedgley, and Liberty, from Upper Gornal, were standing on the pavement at Oldbury Road in Oldbury when a modified Nissan Skyline driven by 54-year-old Dhiya Al-Maamoury crashed into a crowd of pedestrians in November 2022.
Their friends, Ebonie Parkes and Ethan Kilburn, were also seriously injured and taken to hospital with life-threatening and life-changing injuries.
Street racers had been using the section of the Oldbury Road between traffic roundabouts with Spon Lane South and Rood End Road to perform circuits.
Al-Maamoury was arrested from the scene and following further enquiries which included recovering CCTV and mobile phone footage, he was charged with a number of driving offences.
He admitted to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving and two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving at an earlier hearing.
Al-Maamoury was jailed for 13 years and six months.
