A group of street racers gathered again on Friday evening in the covered parking lot of Decathlon Antwerp. The emergency services arrived on the scene after a car drove its nose through the wall of the parking lot. The driver indicated he was not injured.
The emergency services were called to the scene around midnight for an accident in the parking lot of the Decathlon sports store on Noorderlaan. A group of “car enthusiasts” gathered in the parking lot that evening, presumably to race against each other. Video footage obtained by our editors shows how cars speed through the parking lot. A group of spectators cheer them on.
Later in the footage you can hear how the speedster slams into the wall. His car sticks its nose through a wall. Several bricks end up one floor lower.
Oil slick
The fire brigade arrived on site to check the stability of the building and remove the bricks. The medical services and police also arrived on site. “The driver indicated that he was not injured,” says Willem Migom, spokesperson for the Antwerp police. “He allegedly slipped on an oil slick with his car, after which he crashed into the wall. The driver stated that he was certainly not driving too fast.”
The police say they are powerless against these types of illegal car events. “A report has been drawn up of the events, but we cannot do more. This is private property. It is up to the owner to better close the parking lot,” says Migom.
In 2018, a shared car from the Poppy car sharing system drove through the wall of the parking lot during a joyride. The Poppy came to a stop in the BricoPlan-it DIY store, which is located next to Decathlon Antwerp. The three occupants then fled.
Den Deca
It is not the first time that the parking lot of sports shop Decathlon on Noorderlaan has become the setting for street racers who have fun with their fast cars after closing hours. In March 2021, the Antwerp police carried out a major control action after previous complaints about street racing. 450 participants got away with a GAS fine, forty other people had to answer before the police court.
During the thematic hearing at the police court, one of the defendants’ lawyers pointed out that the Decathlon car park was not part of the public road, but was private property. “The police had no authority to take action against incitement to speed on public roads,” lawyer Johan Hermans explained. “The criminal court was not authorized to sentence those allegations.”
The police judge followed Master Hermans in his plea, the prosecutor appealed against the acquittal of the joyriders. In February last year, the file ended up on the table of the criminal court, on appeal. This time the street racers were convicted for the amok they had created. The forty defendants received fines of up to 1,200 euros and driving bans of up to three months.
