The mayor of Vlaardingen, west of Rotterdam, has evoked his emergency powers in an effort to stamp out a spate of car fires in the town.

The special measures will run for two months from 23.00 to 04.00 and give police the power to stop and search people throughout the entire district.

So far this year, 20 cars have been torched in Vlaardingen.

The rules mean ‘no one can walk around with items which could be used to start a fire, such as inflammable liquids and firelighters’, a city council spokesman said.

Car fires have become a plague in the Netherlands in recent months.

In Lelystad, a new town some 40 km from Amsterdam, four cars were set on fire on Tuesday night.

There have been similar blazes in Pumerend, Amsterdam Noord, Maastricht, Heerlen, Culemborg, Reusel, Voorburg and Arnhem, the Telegraaf said earlier this month.

The Gelderland town of Ede is also grappling with a gang of youngsters who have been rioting and setting cars on fire.

Compulsion

Behavioural psychologist Martin Appelo told broadcaster NOS on Wednesday that there are two main reasons why cars are torched.

‘Troublemakers do it to take action against the establishment,’ he said. ‘The car is a symbol of being bourgeois, so you wreck cars to show what you oppose. And, of course, a car fire is an impressive way to show off.’

In Vlaardingen and Lelystad the fires are likely to be the work of a pyromaniac, Appelo said. Usually loners they get sexually exited by fire and are often part of the public looking watching the blaze. ‘The police are aware of this as well, which is why they keep a careful eye on the crowd,’ he said.