Patients moved to escape noise from boy racers

Patients recovering from surgery at a private Christchurch hospital are being moved during the weekend because of noisy boy racers.

Patients at Southern Cross Hospital whose beds faced on to Bealey Ave, were being transferred to other parts of the hospital on Friday and Saturday nights because of the racket caused by the cars, a spokeswoman for the hospital told The Press newspaper.

The noise went from 7pm to the early hours.

"It's shocking and we are set back from the road a bit. It stops people sleeping and is horrible," she said.

A German television programme recently depicted the city as a place where "motorised youth" were "out of control".

Christchurch mayor Bob Parker said the council had used all the limited powers it had to stamp out the "destructive and noisy" boy racers and called for the Government to tell the city how to deal with the problem.

- NZPA