Victorian Man Loses Car Under Anti-Hoon Laws
April 4, 2007 by Alborz Fallah
Mr Terrence Lord, from the central Victorian town of Drummond, can now say goodbye to his 1980 Toyota Corona which was confiscated by police under the state’s anti-hoon laws.
The poor Corona (above picture is just a reference and not the car in question) becomes the first car to be confiscated in Victoria under the new laws. Thankfully, its not much of a loss!
“These tough new laws hold hoons accountable for their actions and hit them where it hurts most – by taking away their vehicle,” Victorian Police Minister Bob Cameron said.
Mr Lord, aged 43, pleaded guilty to four counts of driving while disqualified between January 23 and February 14 this year. The new laws which came info affect in July last year, can lead to confiscation of vehicles if drivers are caught
- drag racing,
- doing burnouts
- reckless speeding
- driving while disqualified,
- other hoon type offences
The idea is that a 48 hours confiscation for the first offence will be a painful lesson that will deter future trouble makers. This is the same type of law which is now implemented in QLD. The decision to impound an offenders vehicle is at the discretion of the officer handling the offence.
The Victorian system works by initially giving first time offenders a 48 hour confiscation of their vehicle, followed by a three-month impound order for a second offence and if they are really that stupid, as Mr Lord has been, the third time will lead to the permanent confiscation of their vehicle.
Print it: 
Look I don’t have an issue with the Police taking your car under these laws IF your being a REAL idiot but I read in Street Fords on the weekend an article written by the editor of what happened to him,blew me away! Hard to believe they can do this with no proof except your word against theirs,but hey that how all the laws operate anyway I guess. This just sucked and more than that could happen to us too. ROY I would guess is 40 ish so not a young Hoon!
I will try writting the whole story for you.
Story By Roy Velardi -Editor of Street Fords.
” YOU MAY REMEMBER FROM THE LAST ISSUE I MENTIONED MY BROTHERS BLOWN ‘67 MUSTANG.I WAS OUT RECENTLY DRIVING THE MUSTANG ON A SATURDAY NIGHT WHEN YOU WOULDN’T BELIVE WHAT HAPPENED.I HAD ACTUALLY JUST FINISHED DOING A WEDDING WITH A MATE.ON THE WAY HOME,I THOUGHT I’D PULL INTO THE LOCAL SERVICE STATION TO TOP UP ON JUICE AND GRAB A BITE TO EAT.
SO HERE I AM IN THIS BRIGHT RED,BLOWN,SWEET SOUNDING MUSTANG THAT RUNS 11.0 SEC QUARTERS AND ITS GOT WEDDING RIBBONS ON IT. I PULL IN,GET THE JUICE INTO THE FUEL CELL,CHECK THE ENGINE FLUIDS. ALL IS GOOD.
I GO INTO THE SHOP TO GRAB A BITE TO EAT AND HEAD FOR THE COUNTER THAT I CHOSE HIS SERVICE STATION TO FILL UP AT. WE HAVE A LITTLE CHAT ABOUT THE CAR,WHICH IS COOL CAUSE I LOVE TALKING CARS TO JUST ABOUT ANYONE .BACK IN THE STANG I FIRE HER UP AND HEAD OUT THE DRIVE WAY. I’M CRUSING DOWN THE MAIN ROAD,WINDOWS DOWN 347 WINSOR SINGING ALONG AND ENJOYING THE GREAT NIGHT WEATHER,AND THEN IT HIT ME I HAD TO GET SOME DONUTS FOR THE WIFE.SO ,I PULL INTO THE CRISPY KREME ESTABLISHMENT. THERE ARE A LOT OF YOUNG GUYS IN ALL SORTS OF CARS HANGING OUT,SO THERE WAS NO PARKING.OFF I GO INTO THE DRIVE THRU. I KILL THE ENGINE AND START TO ORDER.THE NEXT THING THAT HAPPENED BLEW ME AWAY.I HEAR THE SOUND OF A POLICE CAR SIREN,AND LOOK IN THE MIRROR TO SEE AN UNMARKED XR6 FALCON BEHIND ME .I THINK TO MYSELF “WHAT DOES THIS GUY WANT” A BETTER LOOK AT THE CAR ?DOES HE WANT ME TO GET OUT OF THE WAY CAUSE HE WANTS HIS DONUTS FIRST.WHO KNOWS? HE STROLLS UP TO MY DRIVERS SIDE WINDOW AND SAYS THAT HES IMPOUNDING THE CAR FOR DOING A BURN OUT !I SAY “WHAT! YOU MUST BE KIDDING RIGHT? YOU DID A BURNOUT WHEN YOU LEFT THE SERVICE STATION BACK THERE “HE SAYS.
AS YOU CAN IMAGINE I WAS IN TOTAL SHOCK I START UP THE CAR PROCEED THROUGH THE DRIVE THRU -SANS DONUTS OF COURSE . I PARK THE CAR GET OUT AND SAY TO THE OFFICER “WHERES THE BURNOUT?”HE REPLIED”YOU DID A BURNOUT AND WHERE TAKING YOUR CAR”! WTF? APPARENTLY,WHEN I LEFT THE SERVICE STATION,I DID A MIRACULOUS BURNOUT WITHOUT TYRE SQUEAL OR SMOKE. HELL ,I DIDN’T EVEN HAVE ANY RUBBER ON THE QUARTER PANELS! THE UNMARKED XR6 WAS IN THE THE CAR PARK OF THE ADJOINING FAST FOOD OUTLET AND SUPPOSEDLY WITNESSED THIS ALLEGED BURNOUT. THE OFFICER PROCEEDED TO WRITE ME UP A TICKET FOR A BURNOUT FOR THE TUNE OF $461 AND THREE POINTS,NOT TO MENTIONED THE CAR CONFISCATION PAPERWORK.WHILE HE WAS FILLING IN THIS SCRAP PAPER, I QUESTIONED HIM TO WHY HE WOULD WAIT ABOUT FIVE MINUTES TRAVEL 1.2KLM {I MEASURED IT}BEFORE PULLING ME OVER IN THE DRIVE-THRU.IF I HAD DONE SUCH AN ACT, HE COULD HAVE JUST RACED OUTAND PULLED ME OVER ON THE MAIN ROAD.HE LOOKED AT ME AND SMILED. I CONCLUDED THAT HE LET ME GO INTO THE COMPLEX SO HE COULD MAKE AN EXAMPLE IN FRONT OF THE YOUNGSTERS IN THE CARPARK.NOW GET THIS,WHILE HE WAS WRITTING UP THE TICKET, A NISSAN 200SX CREEPS PAST US IN THE CAR PARK AND GOES OVER A SPEED HUMP SCRAPING ITS BELLY ALL OVER IT. I TURNED TO THE OFFICER AND SAID”HEY ,MAKE SURE YOU WAIT 10 MINUTES BEFORE PURSUING THAT CAR TOO!
I TRIED TO EXPLAIN TO HIM THAT HE MUST HAVE BEEN CONFUSED BY THE SOUND OF THE BLOWER WHINE AND LOUD EXHAUST,SO WHEN I ACCELERATED A LITTLE,IT MAY HAVE SOUNDED LIKE A BURNOUT BUT WASN’T. HE BRUSHED THAT REASONING OFF.BEFORE I KNEW IT,A TILT TRAY TURNS UP AND I HAD TO LOAD THE CAR UP. WE WENT TO THE STATION WHERE THEY PHOTOGRAPHED THE CAR AS WELL.
HANDING OVER THE KEYS TO MY BROTHERS CAR WAS THE MOST STRANGE AND UNEASY FEELING I CAN TELL YOU THATS FOR SURE. EXPLAINING THE WHOLE THING TO MY BROTHER AND WIFE-WELL THATS ANOTHER STORY ALTOGETHER! THE CAR WAS IMPOUNDED FOR 3 MONTHS AS PER THE LAW,BUT I WROTE A LETTER TO THE LOCAL COMMANDER. AFTER REVIEWING THE CIRCUMSTANCES,HE RELEASED THE CAR AFTER 2 WEEKS ALONG WITH THE TOW TRUCK AND STORAGE FEE OF $562 .I TOOK THE MATTER TO COURT , AS I TRULY BELIEVED I DID NOTHING WRONG,AND WANTED TO MAKE AN EXAMPLE OF THIS POLICE OFFICER. FINALLY D – DAY ARRIVED AND I SHUFFLED OFF INTO COURT WITH MY WITNESS-THE SERVICE STATION ATTENDANT FROM THAT NIGHT .THE BEEK HEARD THE EVIDENCE FROM THE POLICE,OR SHOULD I SAY LACK OF……..THEIR STORIES DIDN’T GEL TO WELL EITHER. HE HEARD MY EVIDENCE AND I WAS QUIZZED BY THE PROSECUTOR WITH REGARD TO TRACTION AND OF ALL THINGS SCIENTIFIC. NOW,REMEMBER I HAVE AN APPLIED SCIENCE DEGREE HERE UP MY SLEEVE, SO I FIRE BACK ANSWERS HE COULDN’T FATHOM AND HAD HIM SCRATCHING HIS HEAD ON MORE THAN ONE OCCASION !I TOLD YOU THAT SCIENCE DEGREE WOULD COME IN HANDY ONE DAY! THE BEEK HAD BUT NO CHOICE BUT TO DISMISS THE MATTER ENTIRELY! ROY 1 POLICE 0………FORDS TRULY ….ROY!
Somebody read the above post …….please it took me an hour to bloody type,sorry for the Caps but I figured I could type faster then.
Sorry to hear about this story.
The thing that gets me about these storys is its not the modified car enthuiasts that cause the trouble.
Im sorry to say this and i know i will cause up roar, but it is the guys in un roadworthy underpowered cars that try to be heros on our roads.
Maybe the police need to actually research the people they are looking for!
I know with the recent spate of road racing in sydney, if you looked at the type of cars racing there was very few that were modified, most were stock camrys, magnas and even two N13 pulsars were caught.
As owner and lover of two modified cars i am horrified that i cant even get them out of the shed for the fear of harrasment of our law enforcement.
As the old saying goes, ban low performance cars not high performance cars!
Absolutely Tony……I think in this case they obviously assumed Roy to be a no brainer bogan with a hot car they could go after.BIG mistake !
I know where you coming from with the hassles from the law when your out in a modified car.We have kept our rego in another state for that reason. Police have NO idea of what to do when they pull us over for a look. Even when your in a car club environment it seems they stalk you just waiting for you to put a foot wrong.
The thing is when you own a big dollar modified car you tend to look after it a simple cruise on a nice day in your pride and joy with the family on board is all your looking for .
Nothing much different here in the West either when it comes to stock standard un road worthy 4cyl cars causing the trouble for everyone that’s just trying to have Cruise a night.
The thing is the police hardly ever pull over those pieces of junk that smoke poring out the back of them bald tyres no brakes lights not working and they go after the modified car that quite often is better engineered than when it was stock.
Doob in a HOON has started over here all you have to do is catch the culprit in the act on camera and the Police will prosecute the offender. Madness !!!!!!!!!!
Many a time we have driven past old people around our area in our very loud modified XA Coupe under the speed limit to have them shake their fists at you…….
First offence 24 hours confiscation, 2nd 3 months confiscation , 3rd they crush your car!
That old saying is still a good one and very true !
Hey Andrew read what I wrote earlier today at the begining of this blog! Sorry about the Caps ,made it hard to read ,but easier to type.
Hey Guys,
It’s Roy Velardi here Editor of Street Fords.
My story is 100% true (I have the paperwork to prove it!)
Anyways I’m 30 years old and not really a hoon as such.
I’d just like to say that if you feel hard done by from a similar situation take it to court and have it heard before a judge and you WILL have justice against these Cowboy Cops who think they know it all.
Cheers,
Roy
roy@streetfords.com
Yeah you’re right. Its always the idiots in trash boxes that do all the hooning.