THE car cruisers' meeting in Sainsbury's every Monday might seem a rowdy lot if you live nearby.

But many turned out to be a friendly and thoughtful bunch when the Warrington Guardian visited.

And they were as angry as anyone about the problems some of the newer crowd cause - like litter, noise and bad driving.

Ian, from Liverpool, who did not want to give his full name like most of them, said: "If you are trying to sleep and you hear lots of noise you are going to think 'they are going to break into the house'.

"But we are here because this is social. We are not criminals. There's a big problem now with yob culture and people put us in the same barrel."

The social side was shown by Carl and Angela Smith who married last week after meeting at a car cruise - they came out of the service to a gaggle of modified cars.

At the heart of the hobby is improving your car.

Dave, aged 21, from Wigan, plans to spend up to £4,000 on his Corsa GSI. Angela said she has had five cars in the past year and a half.

And Steve, from Chester, said high house prices fed car modifying because people looked for an alternative outlet for their disposable income.

Warrington is popular with cruisers because it is easily accessible by motorway, and most cruisers travelled in from outside the area.

The younger cruisers left in a convoy of neon lights and thumping music just before 10pm, with police stopping several outside.

The ones who stayed just wanted to meet up and check out each other's cars - and everyone who spoke to the Guardian said they had jobs and driving licences.

There are legal cruising sites elsewhere in Britain and some of the crowd wanted one in Warrington.

As Steve stressed: "Cruising is not going to go away, and we could go on for years getting moved from place to place."