KEY POINTS:
Police are yet to decide whether to lay charges after an angry resident rammed his 4WD into a boy racer's car, writing the vehicle off.
Ed Murray said he was woken up on Tuesday night by the sound of cars doing burnouts in a tennis court carpark near his Welcome Bay home, in the Bay of Plenty.
He told the Bay of Plenty Times he had dealt with the problem for five years and was no longer willing to put up with it.
"I jumped in the Nissan, shot over there and they were doing donuts in the tennis courts," Mr Murray said.
"I put it in 4WD and smashed it right into the front of their car."
He pushed the car across gravel for about 15m, through a neighbouring property's fence, then jumped out and yelled at the driver.
The police turned up and the boy racers scattered, but Mr Murray has not had charges laid against him.
The boy racer's car has been impounded by police.
Mr Murray said he and other neighbours were sick of the constant noise and smoke the boy racers brought to the area.
"We told the police we've had a gutsful of it, it's never-ending," he said.
"We'll do whatever we've got to do to get rid of them. The houses fill up with smoke and you can't even breathe in here," he said.
Mr Murray has two children, including an 8-year-old who he won't let outside when the boy racers appear as early as 5.30pm.
"People won't let their kids out to ride their bikes on the footpath," he said.
"We're going to take control so our kids can play on the street. We're giving [boy racers] a message."
Mr Murray said the boy racers not only disturb the neighbours but they also leave a trail of mess in their wake including smashed signs and broken bottles.
Neighbour Billy Atwal - the man whose fence was smashed in the altercation - said he could totally understand how Mr Murray reacted the way he did.
"I understand, yes. He was really angry for a good four, five minutes, he just couldn't stop," he said.
Mr Atwal had lived in the house next to the tennis courts for over a year and boyracers had constantly been a problem, he said.
Constable Peter Mitchell of the Strategic Traffic Unit said: "The car driver has just been doing loops around Cumberland Cres ... he's gone on to the tennis courts on Victory St, he's done donuts there."
He said police had yet to make a decision on whether to charge the 4WD driver or the alleged boy racer, or both.
- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES
