By Laura Michell
A Tullamarine business owner has slammed the “out of control” hoons holding regular meets in the Lambeck Drive area.
Bill, who asked for his surname to be withheld, owns a business on Mareno Road, and said hoon meets had been an ongoing problem in the area for the past two years, with a meet held last night.
He said the events, which are often attended by 40 to 50 people, were causing damage to the roads and nature strips in the area.
He said workers often arrived at businesses along Lambeck Drive and Mareno Road to find the roads littered with rubber.
“They are destroying the area … it’s like a war zone. There is rubber everywhere,” Bill said.
“They even do burnouts on the nature strips and knocked down a no standing sign.”
HOON MEET FINES: 300 people to be fined over Brimbank meet
Other workers along Mareno Road told Star Weekly the meets had started to occur twice a week, with the destruction caused by last night’s event the worst they had seen.
Bill has reported the meets to Hume council and Brimbank and Fawkner highway patrols but said no action has been taken.
“I feel that until someone gets killed no one will do anything,” he said.
Brimbank Highway Patrol Acting Sergeant Emile Caggiati said police did regular patrols in the industrial area around Lambeck Drive and said police needed to be alerted to the hoon meets when they were occurring.
“It’s unfair for the business owners because obviously there are no businesses open when the meets are occurring,” he said.
Acting Sergeant Caggiati said anti-hoon laws introduced in Brimbank in 2018 were helping to make a difference.
A police operation in nearby Harrick Road over the Queen’s Birthday long weekend in June resulted in about 300 people being fined for attending a hoon event. The offence attracts an $800 fine.
“They are reckless, they are dangerous, they are putting lives at risk and damaging property,” Acting Sergeant Caggiati said.
“We want to catch these offenders so we need support from the public to let us know it is happening. That is the greatest chance of catching them.”
