Boy racers leave 'a hell of a mess', says Upper Hutt property owner

Thursday, 1 August 2019

A roller damaged car enthusiasts' vehicles in Upper Hutt in 2019.

The developer whose lot was the scene of a chaotic road roller rampage which damaged the cars of several boy racers says his properties have been targeted for similar gatherings in the past.

Richard Burrell said the Silverstream Industrial Park had been the scene of at least three or four similar meetings of up to 100 cars in the last three months.

He rubbished the boy racers' claims they 'weren't doing anything wrong'.

Roads were damaged from burnouts and bottles, and other rubbish wrappers were strewn around each time they accessed the industrial park. 'They leave a hell of a mess,' he said.

* Man appears in court charged with drink driving after 'serious steamrolling' incident in Wellington**

Developer Richard Burrell says boy racers have used his properties in the past and always leave 'a hell of a mess'. Boy racers damaged the road the night of an incident in which a road roller was used to ram cars in Upper Hutt.

Machinery was also interfered with and diesel siphoned from tanks at the site was poured on the ground to aid the loss of traction when performing burnouts, he said.

Both the lot and road they were on in Upper Hutt were on private property.

Boy racers had previously cut chains to access another of his properties in Seaview to hold similar meets.

The latest incident ended in panic when five cars were rammed by a road roller in the early hours of July 27. A 47-year-old Porirua man with name suppression was later charged with endangering transport and drink driving.

Richard Burrell says boy racers have left behind rubbish, damaged roads and interfered with machinery at his properties.

People present at the gathering reported screams as the roller rammed cars.

At least one person was badly injured. A man's leg was broken in four places when he was run over by a car at the scene.

One of the cars allegedly rammed by road roller in an incident in Silverstream, Upper Hutt in the early hours of July 27.

'If I didn't get picked up when I did, there's a good chance I would have been under it,' he told Stuff.

Burrell said he'd been in contact with the police over the repeated gatherings at the Silverstream site.

However, a police spokeswoman said they were unaware of the location being of interest for boy racer gatherings.

A car being towed away following the road roller incident.

Victims of an alleged roller attack sweep their car parts off a Siverstream street.

The scene of the alleged road roller rampage where five cars were rammed in Silverstream, Upper Hutt.

'We do know that these sorts of meets do occur from time to time in the Wellington District. When we do learn of proposed meets in the Wellington District, we deploy staff to the events to monitor them to ensure that the people in attendance adhere to Land Transport laws and everyone stays safe.'

Burrell has since placed a barrier at the entrance to the Silverstream site.

Gillies Group construction manager Aaron Portland said the company's development sites had also been targeted in the past.

The Fairview Farm subdivision in Akatarawa, Upper Hutt 'got done over every weekend' by boy racers who left behind rubbish and marked up the roads when it was under construction.

Boy racers seemed to gather in places where there were roads with fresh seal and that were 'out of the way', Portland said.