NEW lights put up in a bid to stop teenage hooligans gathering in Greenock's Battery Park have attracted mad midnight motorists, it is claimed.

The lights, aimed at a car park adjacent to a controversial £90,000 skatepark development, have encouraged 'boy racers' to play dare-devil hit-and-miss games, a meeting in Gourock heard.

Dozens of cars drive in to the park nightly from 11.30pm onwards and screech around the car park, making handbrake turns to avoid crashing in to each other, people living in Eldon Street and Newark Street said.

`The lights have proved quite helpful to them,` chairman Liz Lindsay told Cardwell Bay and Greenock West community council's public meeting.

`We had agreed to have the lights put up to deter the youngsters, but now the drivers who used to be on the Esplanade have gravitated towards the park.

`It has become quite a problem.` Community council secretary Irene Pollard added that the noise alone created a public nuisance.

Council leader and ward councillor Alan Blair, who was a prime mover in negotiating for the lights together with police and members of the former Cardwell Bay community council, said it had been hoped they would make anyone using the area late at night more visible and therefore controllable by police patrols.

`Nothing is irreversible though there may be a downside to removing the lights,` he said.

`It may be that a better option will come with the introduction of bye-laws banning cars in the park other than for access.` Councillor Blair agreed to look at the situation as well as investigate why long standing lights on the park path to the pavilion were out of order.