By BEN CAMERON
Burnouts frustrate business owner; employee downplays hooning
BATE Close industrial estate remains a hot spot for local hoons after another night of burnouts and alleged destruction of property, according to a local business owner.
The Bate Close trader, who wished to remain anonymous and first tipped off the Pakenham Gazette back in July about hoons in the estate, said more than 200 cars gathered on Tuesday night, doing burnouts and setting fire to tyres and bins.
“They are a well-organised gang,” he said.
“They should be in Formula One they are that well organised. They have a van with an air compressor and a trolley jack if one of them blows a tyre.
“They’ve gotta be stopped. A daughter of a business owner said she could see smoke from the freeway.
“It’s happening every couple of weeks. I tried to film one of them, but they drove at me at 100 km/h.”
A T-intersection at Bate Close bore countless burnout marks and traces of burnt rubber on Wednesday morning.
Across the road, a business employee said the issue was a storm in a tea cup.
“No damage is caused, there isn’t up to 200 cars like some people say,” he said.
“They do a few burnouts and then they leave.
“It’s illegal, but they don’t even leave a McDonald’s wrapper.
“We need a place for them, put that in your paper.”
The business owner said police turned up too late to stop the hoons.
“One divvy van turned up 40 minutes later. By then only four or five cars were left,” he said.
“The police are too gutless to do anything about it. They say there are too many of them.
“It’s drivers from P-platers to people 40 years of age.”
It came on the same night police received a report of a person trapped in a vehicle in Bate Close around 10.30pm.
The Gazette understands a person at the scene threatened to shoot someone if they didn’t arrive soon.
A CFA spokesperson said they’d received a report of a person trapped in a car in Bald Hill Road, yet it proved to be a false alarm.
Pakenham police Acting Sergeant Frank Bailey said activity in the estate would be more closely monitored.
“There were reports of a car accident, a person trapped, a car on fire, but there was nothing,” he said.
“It could have been a business owner making the call about shooting somebody, they are pretty frustrated.”
