Tinnie rats causing havoc across Gold Coast waterway and top complaints to water police

Tinnie rats are causing havoc across Gold Coast waterways with the on-water hooning topping the complaints to Gold Coast Water Police.

Tinnie rats are causing havoc across Gold Coast waterways with the on-water hooning topping the complaints to Gold Coast Water Police.

The mostly juvenile boaties are also taking to social media to show off their dangerous stunts, which include tipping their boat almost vertically out of the water, speeding through canals and spraying pontoons.

One video posted this month has a compilation of dangerous stunts by what appears to be the same boat including pulling a tinnie up at right angles while going under a bridge and then pulling the same manoeuvre with the Q1 building in the background.

That video on TikTok had more than 500,000 views.

Screen shot from social media of dangerous stunts being performed on Gold Coast waterways. Picture: Supplied

One person commented on the video: “Pity the people who have to drag bodies out of the water, same road traffic penalties need to be applied.”

Gold Coast Water Police Sergeant Shannon Gray said the tinnie rats were causing the most havoc for residents.

“It’s the issue we get the most complaints about from residents, he said.

“Historically we probably see more incidents and accidents and jet skis from older people on the water.

Screen shot from social media of dangerous stunts being performed on Gold Coast waterways with the Q1 in the background. Picture: Supplied

“But, definitely we get the most of our complaints in relation to juveniles speeding and hooning.”

The number of complaints police get through depends on the weather but Sgt Gray said it would not be unusual for police to get about 20 calls about water hooning a week.

Sgt Gray said the issue was Coast-wide with complaints coming in from south at Currumbin Creek right up to the Jacob’s Wells area.

“We see accidents every year where they run into pontoons or markers, they fall out of their boats when they are hooning. It’s definitely a dangerous activity,” he said.

Screen shot from social media of dangerous stunts being performed on Gold Coast waterways. Picture: Supplied

A majority of those tinny bashing are aged between 10 and 17.

Police are also monitoring their social media activity.

“We have taken action against some of these kids from what they have posted on social media,” he said.

“It is definitely not a good idea because it encourages other kids to have a go at some of the things they are doing which inevitably puts other kids at risk and leads to accident.”

Sgt Gray said police were expecting a busy holiday periods and the tinny hoons seemed to ramp up during the school holidays and weekends, particularly in warmer weather.

“We will be out all the holidays enforcing speed limits, checking safety limit, doing all those things to make sure everyone is having a safe time on the water,” he said.

“We can be anywhere at any time and we adjust our shifts accordingly.”

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Originally published as Tinnie rats causing havoc across Gold Coast waterway and top complaints to water police