A young hoon driver has faced court after doing a burnout in front of police in the middle of the night on Sturt Street.
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The 20-year-old, who The Courier has chosen not to name because he avoided a conviction, was charged with losing traction, failing to have proper control of his vehicle and making noise and smoke.
Police prosecutor Senior Constable Steve Repac said the man accelerated out of the McDonald's car park on Sturt Street at 12.25am on July 23 and did a burnout in police view.
The man told police at the time he did not mean to perform the burnout and his car was really light on the accelerator.
The Ballarat Magistrates' Court heard on Monday the car was his mother's and was impounded for 30 days.
Magistrate Letizia Torres asked the young man why he did such a 'silly' and 'dangerous' thing.
The man said he was 'young, dumb and stupid', had learnt his lesson and was sorry for what he did.
He said he had recently lost his licence for speeding as well which had made him 'pull his head in'.
"You're off to a bad start," Ms Torres said.
"I hope you really have learnt from this experience because you are not going to have a licence if you can't drive properly and safely.
"That is the impact on you. The impact on the community is if you were to lose control of the car you could really hurt someone.
"That is why it is illegal and having a licence is a privilege."
The man was fined $400 and did not receive a conviction.
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