Lewis Hamilton charged by Australian authorities for hooning

Jonathon Ramsey — Sun, 23 May 2010 16:02:00 EST

Filed under: Government/Legal, Australia, Celebrities

It would seem that the only good time Lewis Hamilton had at the Australian Grand Prix was when he was actually smoking the tires of his loaner Mercedes C63 AMG. Once that burnout was complete, though, the wheels came off: Hamilton got nicked by the police under Melbourne's anti-hoon laws, had the car impounded, qualified 11th for the race and finished sixth.

And it's not over: Lewis has been officially charged by a Melbourne court with intentionally losing control of a vehicle. A summons for a court date of August 24 was given to his Australian solicitor, but with the Belgian Grand Prix taking place on August 29 the chance of his appearing on that date seems slim. If nothing else, charging a former Formula 1 world champion - and Swiss resident, to boot - is the best lesson to every non-world-champion out there who plans to visit Melbourne: Do. Not. Hoon. Hat tip to Robert

[Source: The Age]

Lewis Hamilton charged by Australian authorities for hooning originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 23 May 2010 16:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aussie gets second car yanked under anti-hoon laws after posting antics on Facebook

Jonathon Ramsey — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:29:00 EST

Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety, Australia

According to The Herald Sun, since Victoria, Australia introduced anti-hoon legislation on July 1, 2006, more than ten cars a day have been confiscated from their owners. That's over 8,000 cars in three years, more than 5,000 of which the police still have. Despite those big numbers, Victorian Peter Black has the distinct honor of being the first Aussie to surrender two different cars in two years for hooning.

While our instincts generally tend to sympathy any time a car is taken away, we can't feel sorry for Black because he's guilty of criminal vanity: he broke the law and then posted the video of it online. That led to someone alerting the police as to the video's existence, and in turn, to the authorities alerting Black that he could hand over the keys to his Ford Falcon ute. How many times do we have to say it? Drive safely. If you don't, please keep it to yourself.

Black's case goes in a similar file to Aussie Joshua Shelton's - the 19-year-old had his arm amputated after a high speed crash, then had his license taken away after he was busted two months later doing donuts, and then he got busted this week twice in an hour for two different "hoon-related activities" while he was a passenger. These kids today...

[Source: Herald Sun]

Aussie gets second car yanked under anti-hoon laws after posting antics on Facebook originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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