Ermes James Roy Tegon, 33, pleads guilty to making excessive noise and smoke

A hooning driver has lost his beloved Commodore for three months after doing a burnout while not realising the police were watching.

An Ipswich man has lost his car after being caught doing burnouts. Picture: file

A POLICE patrol stopped at lights copped a dose of thick smoke when a driver did a noisy burnout right in front of them.

The man behind the wheel of a red Holden Commodore was unaware his noisy antics had been observed until the police followed him into a nearby shopping centre park.

When officers spoke to surprised driver Ermes Tegon he offered the simplest of excuses saying: “I just wasn’t thinking’.

Appearing by phone before Ipswich Magistrates Court because of the Covid lockdown, Ermes James Roy Tegon, 33, from Riverview, said he was pleading guilty to wilfully driving a motor vehicle in a way as to make too much noise and smoke in Collingwood Park on March 19.

Prosecutor Sergeant Brad Dick said the incident occurred at 1pm when the police crew was stopped at a red traffic light.

They observed the red Commodore turning right from Collingwood Drive into Eagle Street.

The sedan revved its engine loudly and then noisily fishtailed down the street with smoke coming from its rear tyres, the court was told.

After telling the officers he hadn’t been thinking, Sgt Dick said the officers immobilised the Commodore for three months.

Tegon was not given a ticket but had to come before the court because he had similar offences in 2019 and 2020.

Tegon told Magistrate Virginia Sturgess he was not working and was receiving a Centrelink benefit.

He was fined $427 and warned he would score two demerit points for the latest offence.