John Hockey: Police were behind Mildura driver during ‘skid’

A Mildura driver who sped away from an intersection with his rear wheels spinning has been hit with a huge fine.

It didn’t take police long to catch up with a Mildura driver who was spinning his rear wheels excessively. Picture: iStock

Police were given a front-row seat to a Mildura driver’s rubber-burning antics.

John Hockey, 56, pleaded guilty to the offending at Mildura Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.

Police told the court officers were driving along Ontario Ave near Seventeenth St on August 20 last year about 1pm.

They approached Hockey’s black Holden SV6 ute stationary at the intersection.

Seemingly unaware members of the force were behind him, Hockey was observed accelerating quickly with his rear wheels spinning “excessively”.

The ute then lost traction and created two 10m long tyre marks.

Hockey told police at the time he was just responding to traffic and if he had intended to do a skid, he would’ve done “a good one”.

Appearing in court by audio link, Hockey said he was coming home from work and was “not thinking properly”.

“I’m getting a bit old for that rubbish,” he said.

Magistrate Michael Coghlan told Hockey it would be a good idea to check his rear vision mirror to see who was behind him.

Hockey was convicted and fined $500.