A VICTORIAN probationary driver has received a costly lesson after hoon driving in Albury in an unroadworthy car just an hour after police put a defect notice on the vehicle.
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Steven James Mudie was fined a total of $4000 and has been disqualified for three years.
“I know what I did was wrong. I have been an idiot,” Mudie said in Albury Local Court.
Magistrate Tony Murray said a large part of Mudie’s hoon driving was on the wrong side of the road in South Albury.
“It is a very expensive exercise,” Mr Murray told him.
The court was told in tendered police papers that Mudie, 20, of Tangambalanga, was driving a 1989 Nissan Skyline in Wagga Road about 1.20am on August 24 last year.
He was stopped for a random breath test and police noticed the poor condition of his vehicle with the brake lights not working.
A front tyre was down to its casing, oil was leaking from the gearbox and differential and the bonnet could not be opened.
Mudie gave a Wodongs address.
Officers issued a major defect notice which was attached to the windscreen.
Mudie was told the front tyre had to be replaced before the car could be driven.
A passenger obtained a replacement wheel, tyre, jack and wheel brace and police left.
Officers were targeting hoon driving in Nurigong Street about 2.25am when they saw Mudie’s car with screeching and smoke coming from them.
Mudie was charged with dangerous driving and failing to comply with high performance vehicle restrictions relating to his hoon driving.
A check by officers revealed Mudie had taken the defect notice from his windscreen.
