DISPERSAL orders have been issued in a bid to prevent unauthorised car-meets taking place in the Southampton area over the weekend.

The Section 34 orders, which cover parts of Calmore and Nursling, follow a car-meet held at the Totton branch of Morrisons on last Sunday.

One of the orders focuses on the Nursling Industrial Estate and will be in force from 6pm today until 6am on Sunday.

The other covers Morrisons supermarket and Calmore Industrial Estate and will last for the same period.

A police spokesperson said: "A Section 34 order gives us the power to direct a person who has committed, or is likely to commit, anti-social behaviour to leave a specified area and not return for a specified period of up to 48 hours."

Inspector Chris Taylor, Test Valley District Inspector, added: “There have been multiple incidents of large gatherings of cars meeting in Nursling and Calmore.

"Street racing, damage to road surfaces, noise and dangerous driving has been reported causing harassment, alarm and distress to members of the public.

“We have attended and been met with increasing hostility from those present – so we have put these orders in place.

“We will not tolerate any antisocial behaviour and will use every tool at our disposal to disrupt those involved.”

The car-meet at Morrisons sparked complaints about anti-social behaviour and dangerous driving.

Locals say they had to put up with the sound of revving engines and honking horns, plus a haze of smoke drifting over the neighbourhood.

Police officers arrived to find a "large number" of vehicles leaving the area and no arrests were made.

Now residents are urging Morrisons to keep the car park locked at night to prevent any similar incidents in the future.

One woman who lives near the supermarket estimated that the car-meet involved around 300 vehicles and lasted for an hour.

She added: "The car park was full of vehicles revving their engines and honking their horns. They had big exhausts and the noise was horrendous.

"When police arrived cars started zooming off, with some people 'hiding' their vehicles in local streets.

"Morrisons could help the locals by putting a barrier on the entrance to the car park because at night vehicles donut and skid around the car park."

The car meet followed similar incidents at the nearby Calmore Industrial Estate last year.

Totton councillor David Harrison said: "There are places where car enthusiasts gather and do no real harm. But experience has shown that many of the people involved use these meetings as a chance to show off and do things more appropriate for a play station game than real life.

"Left unchecked, there might well be a tragedy.

"Perhaps the organisers of these informal gatherings could make themselves known and there could be talks to see if their needs can be accommodated at a location that is more suitable than a supermarket car park and in a safe manner that need not involve a heavy police presence."

Morrisons said: "We are in contact with the police and do not tolerate any form of anti-social behaviour in our stores."