A BOY and a young man who took a wheelie bin for a spin along Sandy Place in Long Beach were dealt with in Batemans Bay Local Court on February 23.
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Cameron Glenn William Gill, 20, of Hume Road, Surf Beach, pleaded guilty to a charge of negligent driving on the night of November 20.
Police told the court that the boy, the front seat passenger in Gill’s car, held onto the partly full bin through the window as the car drove along Sandy Place.
He then let go of the bin and it crashed onto the road.
A short time later, police stopped the car for exceeding the speed limit in a 50km/h zone, unaware of the bin incident.
But officers attached to Operation Broadwater, which was receiving information about burnouts and dangerous and illegal driving, knew all about it.
The next day Gill was interviewed by police and named the boy, from Surf Beach, as the culprit.
When the 17-year-old boy was interviewed on January 1, he told police that he had held onto the bin for about 500 metres before he let it go.
On November 24, four days after he took the bin for a ride, the boy was captured on CCTV behind the wheel of a V8 Holden Commodore ute on the roundabout on the Kings and Princes highways about 5.30pm.
Turning right to head south on the Princes, the rear wheels lost traction and the ute rotated 180 degrees to face north in the south-bound lane.
He accelerated again and the ute spun through 180 degrees and this time was heading south.
The boy told police he was “bunny hopping” up to the roundabout and put his foot down to stop it happening.
During the time he had no control over the ute at least three vehicles had to slow down or stop.
The boy’s counsel, Peter Ryan, told the court that his client had never before driven a vehicle powered by a V8 engine.
Magistrate Doug Dick told Gill that his behaviour was not the sort to be encouraged, so he would lose his licence for one month and be fined $500.
On the bin charge, the boy was fined $500 for having part of his body outside a car window.
For the burnout, the P-plater was fined $1000 and put off the road for 18 months.