IT used to be a regular fixture in Bolton’s nighttime calendar but now one of the former organisers of the Bolton Cruise says it may never return.

The cruise, as it was known to fans, used to happen every Thursday night in Waterloo Street, behind B&Q in Bolton town centre.

Hundreds of people would travel from across the North West to show off their souped-up cars and blast out music on massive in-car stereo sound systems.

Scott Foran, aged 23, of Tyldesley Road, Atherton, started the Waterloo Street cruise as a way of drumming up business for the shop where he used to work, Global Ice Wired, and it grew from a handful of enthusiasts to a massive regular event.

The cruise ran into problems with the law, however, and while it was enjoyed by its supporters as a fun night out it was condemned by others as a danger and a nuisance. Often people would simply congregate and show off their cars, but sometimes they would drive around at high speed and hold drag races on the long, straight road.

The event met its demise in April, 2009, after a driver seriously injured a young woman who was walking home from work.

Mr Foran said: “It was the first night back after winter.

This car was driving up and down like a nutter.

“He’d gone hurtling down Waterloo Street, then he went to overtake, but didn’t see the car was turning right.”

It smashed into the side of the other car and ended up on the pavement, where it hit the woman who had nothing to do with the cruise.

Mr Foran said: “This woman was trapped against the wall and a metal barrier.“ I don’t know how serious her injuries were, but it wasn’t good.

“The driver wasn’t racing, he was just being an idiot.

“After that I decided it would be a bad idea to start it up again if people were going to start doing things like that.”

Mr Foran says the market for customising cars has collapsed because of the police crackdown on illegal “cruises”.

He said: “Ten years ago people used to spend £30,000 to £40,000 on their cars, but people don’t spend anything like that kind of money any more.

“More people spend their money on engines rather than looks now.

“It’s also because of the recession, but with the police clamping down on it there’s no point. The community is online now — it’s all about forums, not people showing their cars off any more.”

Attempts have been made to think of ways to bring back the cruise in a legal and more controlled format — one of the suggestions includes the creation of a handling circuit in which drivers can safely practise their skills at low speed.

Mr Foran said there is little support for such ideas, however.

He said: “I don’t think it’s going to come back how it was. You get caught at one of these cruises and you get an ASBO or a section 59, which means they can take your car off you.

“When the police turn up, everyone just scatters.”

The police, led by town centre Insp Phil Spurgeon, did a lot of work with Bolton Council and the cruise’s organisers to ensure no one was breaking the law or causing a disturbance.

They regularly handed out fixed penalties and warning letters to anyone who did anything wrong.

Whenever the cruise was on, police received complaints about dangerous driving, mostly from passing motorists near Waterloo Street.

Insp Spurgeon said: “There’s nothing wrong with young people who are into modifying their cars and want to show off their work, as long as it’s legal.

“The vast majority were sensible young people, and that was their interest.

“What we wanted to do was root out the idiotic minority that were being dangerous, as much to each other as to anyone else.”

The council spent £25,000 installing kerb build-outs and new parking bays in Waterloo Street last year, as well as restricting access through Slater Street by making it one way, saying it was an accident hotspot.

A similar cruise still operates in Wigan on Sunday nights.