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Matthew Sharpe
Goo Roo
North Island
JZZ31

Posts: 3607
Reg: 10-2005

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Friday, July 11, 2008 - 06:53 am, by: Matthew Sharpe (Madmatt)

So yesterday, driving out to visit Panasonic (a client of mine) I stop at a set of lights behind a late model Holden Astra with a tow bar.

He starts rolling backwards towards me, with some 3 or 4 meters between our cars... I start beeping my horn and flashing my lights, but he's too busy looking at something in the passengers seat, so he hits me - doing maybe 3 or 4 km/h. He finally looks up and realises what he's done. No big deal, except the lights have changed by now and he just drives off! So I follow on and flash my lights at him trying to get him to pull over. No deal, he keeps driving!

Next set of lights I hop out and knock on his window, but he just ignores me and again drives off when the lights change. Middle aged white guy wearing a shirt and tie.

So I follow him as he's going in my direction anyway. He continues to drive rather erratically still distracted by whatever is in the seat next to him (a porno mag perhaps?) and eventually give up and head in to Panasonic.

I went to the police website and logged a complaint against him, and they actually phoned me back in an hour, which I was pleasentely surprised by. They are apparently sending him a warning letter.

No real damage to the Soarer fortunately. His tow bar has scratched the paint up a bit but I think it'll all polish out. Lucky he didn't hook me up and drive off like that though!

Anyhoo, after that bit of fun, driving back home again later in the afternoon, I'm pulled over by a plain clothes cop who decided I needed to be delayed for 10 minutes while he performs a WOF, warrant, tire, under bonnet and licence inspection on me. All fine of course so he sends me on my way.

Very weird.

Gary Poloskei
Tinkerer
A.C.T
Soarer TT

Posts: 66
Reg: 01-2008

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Friday, July 11, 2008 - 08:19 am, by: Gary Poloskei (Mikrucio)

whats a WOF?

Chris Lock
Tinkerer
sa
celica

Posts: 44
Reg: 03-2008

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Friday, July 11, 2008 - 08:36 am, by: Chris Lock (Sledge)

Warrant of fitness..
And i'm in SA where none of that happens

Gary Poloskei
Tinkerer
A.C.T
Soarer TT

Posts: 67
Reg: 01-2008

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Friday, July 11, 2008 - 08:37 am, by: Gary Poloskei (Mikrucio)

never heard of that before.
Maybe ACT isnt as bad as I thought...

Mike Beck
Goo Roo
New Zealand
Soarer Limited UZZ31 & Soarer 3.0GT JZZ31

Posts: 2183
Reg: 11-2005

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Friday, July 11, 2008 - 08:39 am, by: Mike Beck (Gold_40gt)

Warrant of Fitness Gary.

My gosh nasty story Matt! Id be furious, but I guess on Auckland roads you can be too careful! Far too many wayward drivers like the one you encountered. Would have been nice if they gave him more than just a warning - that sounds a bit soft! The arrogance of him driving off when you knocked on the window is just disgusting...

At least the damage is minimal to your soarer however...

Reminds me of the absolute drop kick that damaged my UZZ30 over a year ago now, when they drove right into the door and made a nasty dent - Still haven't got over that really! The fact that annoyed me the most is how the person just drove off, no note, not anything and is still driving about today.

Quite strange later that day you were pulled up out the blue. Not like you would be creating much attention casually driving a subtle looking soarer around. Who would know with some cops though...

Chris Lock
Tinkerer
sa
celica

Posts: 45
Reg: 03-2008

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Friday, July 11, 2008 - 09:53 am, by: Chris Lock (Sledge)

personally as he drove off i would have just keyd his door...

Matthew Sharpe
Goo Roo
North Island
JZZ31

Posts: 3611
Reg: 10-2005

Rating: N/A
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Friday, July 11, 2008 - 11:05 am, by: Matthew Sharpe (Madmatt)

Chris Lock wrote on Friday, July 11, 2008 - 09:53 am:
personally as he drove off i would have just keyd his door...

Hah, I never thought of that! Still that's probably asking for trouble.

Anyhoo, it was a black Holden Astra, licence plate DRY197, to name and shame.

Warrant of Fitness (WOF) is a sticker you get in your window after having a 6 monthly (or 12 monthly if you have a vehicle under 4 years old) safty check here in NZ. They do an on hoist inspection of all steering and suspension components, visual check of engine & exposed drive belts, vehicle lighting & safty features, tyre tread and condition, and a road test to check foot and parking brake etc. Costs about $25-$45 a go, depending on where you take it. If you don't have one its a $200 fine if you get caught, and you won't be covered by insurance if you have an accident. If you fail you have 28 days to fix the problem and you aren't supposed to drive the car unless you are taking it for repairs, and then only if the reason for failure does not make the car dangerous to drive. In 6 years of Soarer ownership I've only ever failed on a frayed seatbelt and a leaking shock.

I've now been pulled over for random checks in fairly unmodified Soarers a total of 3 times in 6 years, and two of those times been falsly accused of speeding. Best tactic seems to be to just nod and make soothing noises until they go away.

I honestly think the cops involved have meant well, but there are loads of •••••• dangerous ricers on the roads they could be targeting rathern than an aging family guy with a slow, well maintained Soarer.

Dave Billings
Goo Roo
Louisiana
SC 300, 2JZ-GE, 5 Speed; Porsche 993 Strozek; Porsche 911 Cabriolet; Honda Civic 2.0 IVTEC Integra; Infinity QX4; Jaguar S-Type 4.0

Posts: 1625
Reg: 06-2007

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Friday, July 11, 2008 - 11:23 am, by: Dave Billings (Waveman1717)

I think I would have been late to that Panasonic meeting...maybe needing to get bailed out of jail. I have to say you handled that probably much better than I would have.

Peter Nitschke
Junk Filterer
South Australia
UZZ30 UZZ31

Posts: 9662
Reg: 11-2004

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Friday, July 11, 2008 - 11:28 am, by: Peter Nitschke (Pen)

Matthew Sharpe wrote on Friday, July 11, 2008 - 11:05 am:
I honestly think the cops involved have meant well, but there are loads of •••••• dangerous ricers on the roads they could be targeting rathern than an aging family guy with a slow, well maintained Soarer.

Maybe you are the only one they can catch up to?

Ben Daniel
Goo Roo
WA
UZZ31 & JZA80 (when I find one!!)

Posts: 1615
Reg: 03-2006

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Friday, July 11, 2008 - 11:49 am, by: Ben Daniel (Lexustt)

By the sounds of it he might of been drunk.

Don Bagnall
Moderator
New Zealand
Mercedes Benz SLK230 Kompressor

Posts: 6786
Reg: 05-2005

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Friday, July 11, 2008 - 05:04 pm, by: Don Bagnall (Baggs)

Matthew,

I have done a spot of digging on your behalf, and can tell you this dickheads contact info.

NAME: Laurence Michael Goodman
ADDRESS: 27 Empire Road, Epsom
PHONE NUMBER: (09)638-8945

Use this information as you see fit.

He's owned the diesel POS Astra since NEW (2007)

Personally, I would have followed him till he stopped, taken the keys off him, and chucked them in a storm-water drain.

Brenton Trafford
DieHard
SA
V8 Limited - UZZ31

Posts: 555
Reg: 08-2005

Rating: N/A
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Friday, July 11, 2008 - 05:12 pm, by: Brenton Trafford (Traff)

Nice work Don! We should all write him strongly worded letters....

Tom Nicol
TryHard
Vic
JZZ30 TT

Posts: 146
Reg: 01-2006

Rating: N/A
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Friday, July 11, 2008 - 06:02 pm, by: Tom Nicol (Goosemonger)

Wow, good work Don!

Can you do the same with car license plates in Australia?

Matthew, use that information wisely.

Luke Nieuwhof
Goo Roo
WA
Soarer TT

Posts: 2760
Reg: 07-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Friday, July 11, 2008 - 06:31 pm, by: Luke Nieuwhof (Luke_nieuwhof)

Isn't the internet great?

Adam Lonergan
DieHard
Victoria
UZZ32 #369 (V8)

Posts: 717
Reg: 08-2005

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Friday, July 11, 2008 - 07:32 pm, by: Adam Lonergan (Alchemistal)

Nearly as good as the guy that they arrested yesterday for the eBay fraud.

Mike Triggs
Goo Roo
Western Australia
3.0GT G-Pack

Posts: 1068
Reg: 07-2005

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Friday, July 11, 2008 - 07:37 pm, by: Mike Triggs (Mikeandimah)

Six-monthly WOFs are weird. Most Australian states have annual checks although some have none at all except when changing states or selling the car or reregistering after being off the road . NSW has no rego checks until car is 3 years old. Where we are now in WA, there are no annual checks (although the initial checks were expensive especially for a 6-month old car). You can even pay the rego (called "licencing" like the US here) online.

I'd hate to have to get to a mechanic every six months, especially if I lived out of town, and/or had multiple cars. I was surprised to see as many pieces of crap as I did on NZ roads when we were there earlier this year, and I've had two hire cars in NZ which would have failed annual rego check here. Makes me wonder what use six-monthlies are.

Mike Beck
Goo Roo
New Zealand
Soarer Limited UZZ31 & Soarer 3.0GT JZZ31

Posts: 2194
Reg: 11-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Friday, July 11, 2008 - 08:02 pm, by: Mike Beck (Gold_40gt)

Don Bagnall wrote on Friday, July 11, 2008 - 05:04 pm:
I have done a spot of digging on your behalf, and can tell you this dickheads contact info.

NAME: Laurence Michael Goodman
ADDRESS: 27 Empire Road, Epsom
PHONE NUMBER: (09)638-8945

Use this information as you see fit.

He's owned the diesel POS Astra since NEW (2007)

Personally, I would have followed him till he stopped, taken the keys off him, and chucked them in a storm-water drain.

...............

Don.... that is one of the most hilarious, wonderful, and amusing posts I have seen for a long time on the forum!

Shame to the man with the name of Mr Goodman! - For starters, to grasp the idea of what a sad man he is.... he "drives" a car that runs on the fuel of Satin! My God!

Ben Kelly
TryHard
Wentworthville
v8

Posts: 353
Reg: 08-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Friday, July 11, 2008 - 11:00 pm, by: Ben Kelly (Ace)

Don, thats unreal. How'd you get that info? can you help me to get back at all the people that pissed me off since high school??? (ive got a long memory and quite a few names on the list).

Aka Abedin
Goo Roo
NSW
91 G-TT, 93 GTL 31

Posts: 1148
Reg: 07-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Friday, July 11, 2008 - 11:18 pm, by: Aka Abedin (Soarer_91tt)

DON knows everything

Remember people DON KING is in the house haha!

Matthew Sharpe
Goo Roo
North Island
JZZ31

Posts: 3619
Reg: 10-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Monday, July 14, 2008 - 06:56 am, by: Matthew Sharpe (Madmatt)

Hah, thats fantastic! Thanks Don.

Gawd, the guy lives in Epsom, maybe I should make him pay for a full respray after all =) I was hoping it was a company car so his bos would get the letter from the police and he'd get into •••• for it.

Hey Mike, he lives near you... feel like taking your mufflers off and doing some late night drive bys?

The guys on a local radio station did this recently when one of them was knocked off his scooter on the way to work & the guy drove off. They got the culprits phone number from a listener, and then just phoned him every day for a week until he finally uttered an insincere apology, after making various death threats etc, all live on air. He seemed to think that scooters should be on the footpath, not the road, so it was his right to run them down.

Matthew Sharpe
Goo Roo
North Island
JZZ31

Posts: 3621
Reg: 10-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Monday, July 14, 2008 - 07:03 am, by: Matthew Sharpe (Madmatt)

Mike Triggs wrote on Friday, July 11, 2008 - 07:37 pm:
ieces of crap as I did on NZ roads when we were there earlier this year, and I've had two hire cars in NZ which would have failed annual rego check here. Makes me wonder what use six-monthlies are.

Gives the police another way to gather revenue I guess.

Mike Beck
Goo Roo
New Zealand
Soarer Limited UZZ31 & Soarer 3.0GT JZZ31

Posts: 2203
Reg: 11-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Monday, July 14, 2008 - 07:45 am, by: Mike Beck (Gold_40gt)

Matthew Sharpe wrote on Monday, July 14, 2008 - 06:56 am:
Hey Mike, he lives near you... feel like taking your mufflers off and doing some late night drive bys?

Hahaha shouldn't be too long before I organize getting some headers and the like!

Interestingly, his road is directly opposite the road where I bought my Limited V8 from..