A Tywyn councillor has said youngsters in the town should be “given a break” after a police crackdown on boy racers last week.

North Wales Police were out in the area on Friday evening, targeting young anti-social drivers.

The Special Constabulary Road Safety Unit and the local policing team carried out a dedicated campaign focussing on the Tywyn area due to several complaints from local residents.

While chairman of the Tywyn Town Council Cllr Nancy Clarke welcomed the exercise, Cllr Mike Stevens said he felt young people in the town should be “given a break”.

The county councillor said: “In defence of the young lads, they work hard all week. I think there are more important things police should be looking at. People need to be more tolerant.”

Cllr Stevens added: “I can understand why the police do it but it’s not always young drivers. In fact, most young drivers I know are very good drivers.”

Police said: “Our main aim of carrying out such operations is to keep people safe and reduce the number of young drivers being killed or seriously injured on our roads and we will continue to work to stamp out this kind of behaviour.”

Cllr Matthew Cooling said that it would be unfair to tar all young drivers with the same brush, but backed the operation, saying anti-social driving has been a problem in Tywyn for some time.

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