Yatala M1 ‘Gold Coast’ lights attracting hoons to the area, police claim

The controversial “Gold Coast” lights on the M1 have received another blow after it was revealed they were attracting a certain type of crime to the area. Find out what happened.

The controversial “Gold Coast” lights on the M1 have received another blow after it was revealed they were attracting a certain type of crime to the area.

Police conducted a citywide hooning operation over the weekend where they found more than 50 cars that were part of a hooning group.

Screenshot of a video of hooning on the M1 taken in late February. Picture: Channel 9

Gold Coast Police Superintendent Geoff Sheldon said when the cars got to the controversial Gold Coast lights at the M1 they used an unusual policing technique.

“We shut the lights down,” he said.

“That’s where they go to do their best social media footage.

The Gold Coast lights are Yatala were shut down by police over the weekend in an effort to stop hoons. Picture Mike Batterham

“It’s an iconic location – ‘Aren’t I clever, I’m on the Gold Coast doing this?’

“Once they have been robbed of that skiting opportunity it loses a bit of credibility for them.

“They want to have the iconic Gold Coast emblem of doing that to the sign.

“It's an unusual crime prevention strategy. Usually crime prevention involves putting lights on not turning things off.”

Supt Sheldon said once the lights were off the hoons moved elsewhere.

The lights use 97 poles to spell the word Gold Coast and are situated at Yatala.

Supt Sheldon said there were about 55 cars performing hooning stunts across the Gold Coast.

“The second they see us they scutter away like cockroaches,” he said.

He said that police issued 28 tickets, performed 45 roadside breath tests and arrested nine people on 23 charges.

The controversial lights on the M1. Picture Mike Batterham

He said seven of those people were arrested for drug offences.

“We batted it back to them a bit,” he said.

“It was a cat and mouse sort of game – they had two weeks of free shots and then we jumped on them.”

Gold Coast City Council CEO Tim Baker said safety was their priority.

“The lights were switched off as a one-off request from the police and we will continue to work proactively with them on the issue of hooning,” he said.

“There are no plans at this stage to permanently switch the lights off.”

The controversial Gold Coast lights were installed on the M1 ahead of the 2018 Commonwealth Games and cost about $2.1 million.

The lights sparked controversy after people realised they could not be read while driving on the M1.

Calls to remove the 97 light poles were made in 2019.

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