Rotary Park is turning into a race track and a wrecking yard as fast cars and tyre burn-outs plague the area, a local resident says. Barry Oats said he was consistently being woken by the noise of speeding cars coming into the carpark of Rotary Park. “We had a car up there the other night, just doing burnouts, everyone yahooing, making loud noises. It woke me up in the middle of the night, it was so loud,” he said. “They had done so many burnouts in the car they had obviously stolen that the back tyres had almost gone down to the rim. “Then I went up to the park the next day and it was covered in burnt-out tyre marks, all across the carpark, and then there is burnt rubber from the tyres everywhere, too. It makes such a mess.” COPYRIGHT - ALLIED MEDIABurnout marks and shredded tyres at Rotary Park. Photo: Gerard O'Brien He was frustrated with the behaviour and it happened fairly regularly, Mr Oats said. Vehicles were loud and drivers seemed to want to be heard. It also occurred during the week, he said. The stolen vehicle responsible for the burnouts was still at the park a couple of days after the event. He questioned why there were no patrols in the area or security cameras in use. The park had a gate to its entrance, which had padlocks, but was not locked at night. “It used to be, but a long time ago they stopped doing it. They now need to go back to locking it.” A Dunedin City Council spokesperson said it was disappointing to hear of the behaviour at Rotary Park. “We encourage everyone to use our public parks and reserves respectfully and be mindful of others,” the spokesperson said. The council did not routinely lock all gates at all of its parks and reserves following a reduction in the parks security budget during the 2024-25 annual plan process. “But we do have the power to remove abandoned vehicles in certain circumstances. In this case, we understand the vehicle was stolen and the owner is now making arrangements for it to be removed.”
