KEY POINTS:
A man who rammed his 4WD into an alleged boy racer's car, writing the vehicle off, is to be charged, police have confirmed.
Ed Murray said he was woken up on Tuesday night by what he thought was 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 jumped into his 4WD and rammed a car with the alleged boy racer in it, pushing the vehicle about 15m and through the fence of a neighbouring property.
Constable Peter Mitchell, of the Strategic Traffic Unit, said neither Mr Murray nor the 18-year-old driving the rammed car had been charged yet but both would be in the next few days.
"[Mr Murray] is going to be charged with reckless driving, it's a done deal, I just haven't put pen to paper yet," Mr Mitchell said.
"The other guy is going to be charged with sustained loss of traction."
Mr Murray told the Bay of Plenty Times he was not concerned about charges being laid.
"If they have to charge me, they have to charge me and I'll just have to defend it (his actions), so that's what we'll be doing.
"We rang the police and they were too busy and I can understand that because they don't sit around waiting for someone to ring them about boy racers," he said.
Sergeant Lester Polglase said boy racers were a problem in many areas in Tauranga.
Police issued up to 10 tickets a week for sustained loss of traction, he said today.
"Some weeks it might be 10, some weeks it might be none. We probably average four or five a week," Mr Polglase said.
He said the area of Welcome Bay where last week's alleged incident occurred was one of many spots favoured by boy racers.
"It's basically all over - if you have a look at Maungatapu and the skid marks over there, Ohauiti - you'll find places over there, it's just rife across the whole town."
Mr Polglase said it was difficult for police to stop vigilante action but he advised people to take the registration of cars causing trouble and contact police instead of getting involved.
- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES
