{"id":482990,"date":"2026-06-18T03:53:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T03:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/482990\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T03:53:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T03:53:18","slug":"video-constant-stream-of-hoons-plague-tauranga-street","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/482990\/","title":{"rendered":"Video: ‘Constant stream of hoons’ plague Tauranga street"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Hoons” doing burnouts and skidding vehicles on water main covers or fast-food trays are damaging a Tauranga street, a fed-up businessman says.<\/p>\n

By Ayla Yeoman of Local Democracy Reporting<\/p>\n

Bryce Cole, chief executive and director of Gourmet Foods Ltd in Judea, has asked the Tauranga City Council for help addressing the long-running problems on Birch Ave.<\/p>\n

He said he had security camera footage of numerous instances of dangerous driving on the street.<\/p>\n

Other Birch Ave businesses told Local Democracy Reporting it was a common occurrence, with the roundabout at the end of the street regularly torn up.<\/p>\n

Cole said the street, which is lined with businesses, was being used as a racetrack and burnout pad, particularly on weekend nights.<\/p>\n

“We have a constant stream of hoons coming down the avenue and doing burnouts.<\/p>\n

“I have been with Gourmet Foods for 22 years, and this issue has been occurring off and on for a large part of that time,” Cole said.<\/p>\n

Birch Ave residents are fed up as hoons tear up the Judea street nightly. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n

“The concern now is that it seems to be becoming more frequent, and the vehicles involved appear to be travelling faster.”<\/p>\n

He said the vehicles damaged private and council property.<\/p>\n

A company sign was bent so badly that a forklift was needed to push it back into place, and a security camera was smashed off and stolen.<\/p>\n

Other businesses had to replace water main covers “ground down to nothing” by racers putting them under their tyres to skid. They also used McDonald’s trays, he said.<\/p>\n

“The other week, we had someone come down towing a pallet up and down the road behind the vehicles, trying to ride on them.”<\/p>\n

He said he believed some of this behaviour had been influenced by overseas trends and the rise of drifting in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

People, including children, would run around the cars doing burnouts in the dark, and some recorded videos which he believed were for social media.<\/p>\n

“The loss of control shown in [security camera videos] has serious potential consequences.<\/p>\n

“Eventually, someone is going to get seriously hurt.”<\/p>\n

\"Damage<\/p>\n

Damage and vandalism on Birch Ave in Judea. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n

Cole heard the burnouts regularly from his Judea home and said he had called police many times.<\/p>\n

“By the time a patrol car is available to attend, the vehicles are usually gone.”<\/p>\n

Cole said police had recently impounded a couple of the vehicles involved.<\/p>\n

“Both of them were unregistered, both were expected to have gone to the wreckers.”<\/p>\n

Other business leaders along the street told Local Democracy Reporting they often saw burnout marks when they arrived at work each morning.<\/p>\n

\"Graffiti<\/p>\n

Graffiti on Birch Ave in Judea. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n

Roar Pet Food owner Luke Nuttall said there was always mud sprayed from the roundabout.<\/p>\n

“There’s a big tree in the middle of it. They do doughnuts around the tree.<\/p>\n

“It’s churned up pretty bad.”<\/p>\n

He said there was often debris all over the road.<\/p>\n

Impact Engineering general manager Mark Welten had also noticed the roundabout track marks and mud at the end of the road where his business was.<\/p>\n

“It’s been intermittent over the last six months, but recently it’s escalated to almost a daily thing.”<\/p>\n

While it did not impact the business directly, he said, the road looked “a bit unsightly” with black skid marks, rubbish flying around and graffiti.<\/p>\n

Cole spoke to the council’s city delivery committee on Tuesday, suggesting that installing a monitored camera with automatic number plate recognition capability would be the most effective solution.<\/p>\n

“This would allow for a faster response to these incidents and would also help spread the message that Birch Avenue is not a safe or acceptable place for this behaviour to continue.”<\/p>\n

\"Bethlehem<\/p>\n

Bethlehem ward councillor Kevin Schuler. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n

Bethlehem ward councillor Kevin Schuler, who had discussed the issue with Cole, referenced an incident where someone used a crowbar to smash a private camera.<\/p>\n

“Fortunately, we had another camera pointing in a similar direction, which captured the incident. Police now have that footage and information,” Cole said.<\/p>\n

Schuler told Local Democracy Reporting the situation was frustrating for businesses and the road had tyre marks all over it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw the damage that can happen when a driver loses control. This makes it even more concerning to see a young child in the footage.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said business owners should not have to tolerate property damage and vandalism.<\/p>\n

Their cameras were not strong enough to read number plates, which meant they had little to help police.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolice are very busy, so despite their best intentions, they cannot guarantee responding at short notice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hopeful we can install a strong surveillance camera – out of crowbar range – soon to help police identify vehicles and track down owners.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Council<\/p>\n

Council operations and infrastructure general manager Reneke van Soest said the bad behaviour was a police matter. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n

Council operations and infrastructure general manager Reneke van Soest told the meeting the behaviour on Birch Ave was a police matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we can do is, if we see it, refer it to the police so there is a critical response.\u201d<\/p>\n

For that, she said, they needed cameras in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor cameras to operate, we need power connections. Both of those are currently in progress.<\/p>\n

\u201cPowerco currently has a dramatic backlog so it might not be for a few months until that happens, but we are aware and we are working on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Western Bay of Plenty Police area prevention manager, Inspector Zane Smith, said Tauranga police were aware of the behaviour and taking action.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnti-social behaviour on our roads can cause serious harm.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said after reports of unlawful activity in Judea, police had taken people into custody and impounded vehicles.<\/p>\n

\"Western<\/p>\n

Western Bay of Plenty Inspector Zane Smith. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n

He said offenders held to account could face charges such as sustained loss of traction and dangerous driving. Vehicles were often impounded as a result.<\/p>\n

The community played an important role in helping police understand what was going on, as did CCTV cameras, which could help police identify vehicles and drivers involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ask members of the public to report any suspicious or unlawful activity as soon as possible, providing as much detail as it is safe to do so,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

This helped police better understand what was happening, prioritise resources and respond effectively.<\/p>\n

Where an immediate response was not possible, the information allowed them to follow up with vehicle owners and drivers and take appropriate action.<\/p>\n

Smith said anyone who witnesses unlawful or anti-social road behaviour should contact the police immediately on 111.<\/p>\n

Information could also be provided through the 105 service, or anonymously through Crime Stoppers online or by calling 0800 555 111.<\/p>\n

Local Democracy Reporting is local-body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“Hoons” doing burnouts and skidding vehicles on water main covers or fast-food trays are damaging a Tauranga street,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[67,42,43,1756,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-482990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-tauranga-bay-of-plenty","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}