Hoon driver fumes at pouncing media

By Shaun Inguanzo
AN ANGRY Dandenong hoon driver charged at media photographers as police seized his car in one of the most powerful example yet of Victoria’ s anti-hoon legislation in action.
Police from Stonnington Traffic Management Unit first encountered the 42-year-old Dandenong man and his Holden Calais when he was driving along Dandenong Road with the wrong numberplates, near Chadstone Shopping Centre on 15 June.
Senior Constable Scott Woodford said police pulled him over and discovered the man was driving while suspended.
Using the new anti-hoon powers, police issued him with a notice on 18 June to surrender his car to a pound in Preston no later than 3 July.
The man failed to deliver and at noon on Friday 6 July Sen Cons Woodford and Acting Sergeant James Robbins executed a search and seizure warrant on a Jones Road property in Dandenong.
The man, who lives with his parents, initially told police the car was not on the premises but after issuing the warrant police found the Holden Calais in the garage.
“Initially he (the man) was not happy,” Sen Cons Woodford said.
“He lied about the location of his car and only when we executed the warrant did we locate it.”
Police then called a tow truck to collect the vehicle and take it to Preston but not before having to restrain the man when he rushed towards a photographer in a bid to deter the press from recording the incident.
A scrum of reporters and photographers then moved away from the front of the house until police were finished.
Afterwards, police told media that the man had been hostile and uncooperative during the incident.
Sen Cons Woodford said police removed the car’s numberplates because they were not registered to the man.
He said the man was able to collect his vehicle on Monday, 9 July but had to pay up to $600 to cover the costs of towing and storage.
The seizure by warrant was a first for Stonnington TMU, Sen Cons Woodford said, and one of the first across the state.
Typically, cars are impounded on the spot or drivers surrender their vehicles on time.
The man’s parents were visibly shaken and upset, with the father particularly concerned about the media coverage his son had attracted.