Another great piece of A Current Affair quality journalism - Hoon plates

[Mick K.]

Anyone see ACA last week?

They had an older country guy, wearing a hat, driving a Renault Scenic RX4 SUV and was complaining that VicRoads was trying to take the personalised numberplate "HOON" off him.

They did mention his name - Gary Rogers. They didn't mention that he owns a V8 Supercar race team and has been involved in motorsport for decades.

Here is the ACA article http://aca.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=1079251

Here is some info on Gary Rogers that Channel 9 forgot to mention
http://www.grmotorsport.com.au/html/s01_home/home.asp

Was this a set up of ACA by GRM? - what a classic!
Did ACA know who he was but just decided not to mention it - very poor integrity and misleading journalism

There are 82 comments on the article at this time and no one has mentioned anything about who Gary Rogers is.

It goes to show how shows like ACA can show just one side of the story.

MK

[Joshmcmillan]

Notice his wife drives a Falcon? lol

[galaxy xr8]

I seen the last couple of minutes of the interview and I thought to myself, that man look's and sound's like Garry Roger's, I did hear them say his name was Garry but I never heard his surname, lol.
They are trying to portray him as a respectfull individual of the communitty, to which he probably is but they really should have mentioned he own's a V8 Supercar team, lol, I suspose if they did that though they wouldn't have had a story to whinge about, anyway that's not the point,
They Vic Road's issued the plate's to him, obviously he would have had to have applied for them and they gave the all clear, so as far as I see it, he should remain with them.

[Kingsley]

They did mention the race team briefly in the interview, but judging by how Garry was dressed it looks as he might have made the decision not to wear anything associated with motorsport.
Funnily enough, earlier that day we were sitting in Hungry Jacks when a Toyota Land cruiser pulled uo wearing Victorian 'FISHIT' number plates. I wondered how he got that past the Vic roads.

[3vXT]

Originally Posted by Mick K.

There are 82 comments on the article at this time...

I think this is the best

ACA should cheak with the Australia constitution that dossent have free speech try fighting that then this trivel matter

[Jason[98.EL]]

at least he might have the money to fight them to the end

loved the old woman that had to give hers up though

Jason

[4Vman]

Must have been a slow news night......

Id also say Gary has made a conscious effort to distance himself from his motorsport involvement for the purposes of the segment...

[pottery beige]

there is a plate in sa.. OFFTAP.. wait til they work that one out.......

[Bundy]

ha if ol mate in Qld has "BALLS" as a number plate , I'm of to register "BIGNUTZ"

[SteveJH]

Originally Posted by Jason[98.EL]

loved the old woman that had to give hers up though

Jason

I loved the bail of Hay or whatever in the back of the Renault.....

Its hardly what you'd think of as being Ideal for that sort of thing....

[Kryton]

People do realise that Vicroads can confiscate ANY number plate that they deem to be inappropriate, offensive or not in the interests of promoting safety.
Regardless of if they issued them in the first place or not, they can legally take the plates back at any point of time.
Even the plates that you think you own, which you may have got when you still could own the plates, they can take them back too if they see fit.

Having the plate HOON is not sending the right message which is why they want them back.

[Keepleft]

Originally Posted by davway

Having the plate HOON is not sending the right message which is why they want them back.

What message is that, exactly?

[Kryton]

Originally Posted by Keepleft

What message is that, exactly?

You really need to ask what the issue is with the number plate HOON................

[Fev]

I wrote an article for the Gary Rogers Racing team chef haha. Drove a red XR6T (SF issue 61 I think it was)

Anyway, I would be surprised if there wasn't any complaints about the motoring sensationalism that ACA tries to portray as actual journalism.

[wrongwaynorris]

I could have sworn I read A Current Affair and Journalism in the same sentence . ACA would'nt know journalism or a journalist if it bit their **** . None of the commercial stations would for that matter .

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by Mick K.

It goes to show how shows like ACA can show just one side of the story.

ACA, and their like, have ALWAYS shown their side.

I'm old enough to remember that the term 'Hoon' used to mean the same as 'Mug lair'

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by wrongwaynorris

I could have sworn I read A Current Affair and Journalism in the same sentence . ACA would'nt know journalism or a journalist if it bit their **** . None of the commercial stations would for that matter .

Still amazes me that people watch this rubbish.

[notty1978]

My old plates were VHHOON on my VH and no one said nothing to me

[BZINGA]

Originally Posted by vztrt

Still amazes me that people watch this rubbish.

Exactly ....

[uranium_death]

Journalists should carry, 'SCUM' plates. You produce them in Australia, and unemployment hits an all-time low.

[Bushbasher]

Originally Posted by pottery beige

there is a plate in sa.. OFFTAP.. wait til they work that one out.......

Ok, I'll put up my hand and admit I'm a bit slow, but I don't get it. As asked by a famous/infamous redhead we all know;"please explain?"


Bushbasher

[Fled74]

I knew a kid with a Commie SS that had the plates "INIL-8" (I Annihilate). He was livid when VicRoads took them back from him after a year.

[Fev]

Off Tap - as in 'supposedly' really powerful

My car's plates are GGI-71Y (Giggity)... does that mean i'm going to get arrested as a perverted sexual deviant? lol

[oranpark addict]

Originally Posted by Fev

My car's plates are GGI-71Y (Giggity)... does that mean i'm going to get arrested as a perverted sexual deviant? lol

Yes, yes it does. That is a distraction on the road. In fact all good looking cars are a distraction causign accidents. New rule: cars have to look like corollas so everybody concentrates on the road..

[pottery beige]

Originally Posted by Bushbasher

Ok, I'll put up my hand and admit I'm a bit slow, but I don't get it. As asked by a famous/infamous redhead we all know;"please explain?"


Bushbasher

sorry cant post a link.. google it up on 'urban dictionary' and all will be answered.. hahahaha..

[UNR8D]

Originally Posted by davway

You really need to ask what the issue is with the number plate HOON................

you cant be serious... would you like us all in cottonwool as well?

FFS grow up, and just think for yourself, if the word HOON offends you, you live a very SIMPLE life.

If its such an offensive word why is every front page of a state newspaper plastered with it at every opportunity? you wanting them to ban the word then as well incase some teenager thinks because he sees it in the paper he must give it a try?... dumb analogy? about as stupid as the link to HOON plates and 'portraying the wrong image'.

[Kryton]

Originally Posted by UNR8D

you cant be serious... would you like us all in cottonwool as well?

FFS grow up, and just think for yourself, if the word HOON offends you, you live a very SIMPLE life.

If its such an offensive word why is every front page of a state newspaper plastered with it at every opportunity? you wanting them to ban the word then as well incase some teenager thinks because he sees it in the paper he must give it a try?... dumb analogy? about as stupid as the link to HOON plates and 'portraying the wrong image'.

Your really not too bright are you.
Would you like me to personally attack on you now, maybe call you simple, stupid or just plain dumb?

I must have missed my previous posts where i said that i was offended by the word hoon or where i said that i was Vicroads and personally made the decision to recall such plate.............
Thats right, i didnt.

So to sit there and think its fine for you to attack me as if im the one that has the issue with the whole subject is not on.

If you genuinely cant see what the issue that Vicroads has, then your obviously no more intelligent than people who watch ACA to start with.

Take some of your own advice, grow up and think before you post such B.S again.

[v8Nathan]

I personally can't see what the problem is,(and I have 2 degrees, so not exactly stupid). Is the word offensive? No. Does it have some sexual innuendo? No. It is merely a word that happens to be used by almost every paper in Australia every other day. If Garry wants to have that plate on his car, then what is the problem? If VicRoads does not want people to be able to use this plate, then fine, buy it back from him, as there is no moral or legal justification for them banning them. They should have thought about this combination long ago, when the word was the new "catchphrase" to describe anyone who happens to be a motoring enthusiast. and banned it then. They could have prevented the sale of the plates, in the same way as Queensland Transport has banned anything with 69 or S-E-X as a combination.

As for VicRoads sending out a message, the only message they are sending out is that if you have purchased something from them, then at any stage they can take it back should they decided that they don't want you to have it in the future. There are MUCH better ways of getting out the anti hooning message than by preventing someones expression. The fact that the plate is owned by someone of the calibre of Garry Rogers, then perhaps this is his way of making a political statement, something that has been read into our constitution (even though it is not expressly stated). After all, the fact that he is an enthusiast makes him, according to the definition in the media, a hoon. Having this plate on the back of his most un-hoon-like car shows just how pathetic their definition is.

[barra265t]

What a shame that the owner's real name wasn't Geoff Hoon. He could have done Vicroads for discrimination.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoff_Hoon

[zdcol71]

There are a couple of interesting corellations I see in this thread.The original thread has led into other arguments around mainstream press, government interference in civic rights, personalized plates and public perceptions, amongst others.I have just been looking through some other sites to find that, outside Australia, the UK, Kiwi, and the Yanks, not too many other countries "do" personalized plates. (Please correct me if I am wrong, I have just had a cursory look around). It seems in the UK, you can personalize, but within some very strict constraints of,.. area, category of vehicle and year of manufacture/expiry of registration. It is only recently that combinations of letters/numbers have been made available that were a short while back deemed unacceptable.(one I thought as a good example was sn07, which could have been construed as snot, a fairly more sniggarable term in the UK than it is here.)
Given that the Kiwis and ourselves (at least in motoring terms) seem to be fairly unified, it seems to me that the only others that are in the same game as us in terms of personalized plates, are the Yanks.
I watched ,like a train wreck, last night, a debate (on their popular "media", read ACA, TDT, et al), about new firearm laws introduced into about 20 states,based on the 2nd ammendment, that allowed for the carrying of unconcealed firearms into work places AND bars!! One of the comments I heard in an attempt to shut down the whining, civil libertarians in the debate was that "a bar was the PERFECT example of where one should be allowed to carry a gun, in case someone got ornery and needed to be sorted out"!!!
I always believe that we can pull ourselves back from the precipice of the Yank path, but we are more and more convincing ourselves that whatever they do ... we can do to.
Before I am acused of ranting (too late??), I am not a big fan of personalized plates and the message that a lot of them send out....we've all seen them...catchme,ru16,crack,stolen...(geez, there is another thread on all of these), is not necessarily a good message.
I also love a lot of quirky and relevant plates, but we all know,particularly those who feel they are getting tarred with the same brush as a lot of absolute jerks out there, some plates are just innapropriate.
(ps. for the record, I think Garys' plate is a humorous pi$$ take, but I am not surprised to find it has polarised lot of motoring people)