Articles by Stephen Drill

A leadfoot magistrate who has spent more than a decade on the bench telling off dodgy drivers has lost his licence for speeding.

Commodore-loving hoons outranked Toyota and Ford drivers in the race for the worst drivers by manufacturer.And dangerous driving, tailgating, and cutting off drivers by weaving in and out of traffic were the most complained about behaviours.Holden drivers were responsible for 15.35 per cent of bad driving reports, compared with 12.68 per cent for Toyota drivers, statistics from website dobadriver.com show.Victorians accounted for almost 37 per cent of reports to the Queensland-based website, which encourages people to put the registration plates of dangerous drivers online.A Holden ute driver terrorising the streets of Frankston was among those listed. "P-plate driver doing a burnout (wheels spinning, smoke, squealing brakes) when entering Moorooduc Hwy from Margate Avenue," the report said.Another report outed the driver of a lowered black Holden with illegal tyres and a "very overloud exhaust that is heard morning, noon and late nights" in Lilydale.Dashcam footage given to police will be used to investigate any detected traffic offencesBut Holden driver Bob Bridger, 58, said bad driving was in the eye of the beholder."Holden people would probably say Ford drivers are the worst and they would say it's Holden people," he said.The mechanic, who drives a 2003 Commodore to work at Brighton Holden every day, said police rarely pull him over."I haven't had a ticket in 15 or 20 years. I live in a 40km an hour zone and I'm probably the only one in my street who does the limit," he said.Superintendent David Griffin, of Victoria Police's road policing operations, said people should report dangerous driving to their local police station or Crime Stoppers."Dashcam footage given to police will be used to investigate any detected traffic offences," he said."The owner of the footage may be required to give a witness statement if the footage needs to be used as evidence." Holden spokesman Sean Poppitt said: "It's no surprise the two best-selling car brands of the last 10 years are over-represented in these results. It's a matter of sheer numbers and reflective of the Holden brand's enduring popularity."Holden - 15.35%Toyota - 12.68%Ford - 9.69%Mitsubishi - 5.02%Nissan - 3.85%Mazda - 3.5%Hyundai - 3.02%

Ford is sacking 230 workers at its Broadmeadows and Geelong plants in another black day for manufacturing in Australia.The production lines have been shut down today, with workers being called in to individual meetings to be told they are now redundant. The job cuts are the latest wave in sackings as the car giant winds down its operations, which are scheduled to close for good in October 2016. Holden and Toyota have also announced they will close their local factories after Ford's announcement.Australian Manufacturing Workers Union secretary Dave Oliver said it was a sad day for manufacturing. "Despite (Ford) reducing the impact of its decision to lower vehicle production through a voluntary redundancy program and redeployment to other non manufacturing areas, 230 workers are being shown the door against their will," he said."The impact will be felt right across the component and service supply sectors. The overall job losses will run into the thousands once the flow on impact is factored in."He lashed out at the Federal Government, saying it had done nothing to help the car industry. "Ford and the union have been working together to assist workers in transitioning to new employment but the Federal government has done nothing to assist the process."The previous Labor government had made $5.1 million available to help support Ford and component supply workers. It had also allocated an additional $5 million should it be required. This additional support funding was ripped away by Joe Hockey as part of the Coalition's Federal budget."Ford spokesman Wes Sherwood confirmed the job cuts today, but would not reveal the number of staff going. "We're not going into those details, we have said around 300 employees will be separated this year," he said."We have helped more than 50 people through voluntary separations." The company was still on track to release new Territory and Falcon models later this year, he added.The production lines have been reduced to 83 cars a day, down from 133 earlier this year.news.com.au

Ford is likely to close its Geelong and Broadmeadows factories before 2016 and shut the car industry overnight, a union has warned. Dave Smith, the head of the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union's vehicle division, said that Ford's future was unclear."While Toyota and Holden seem to be quite genuine that they want to stay until 2017 and build cars, Ford's position is not as clear," he said. "The component industry is fragile. It can fall over at any moment." Mr Smith said he also feared cuts to the Automotive Transition Scheme in next month's Federal Budget. "If they decide to drop off on that, then it will be over very quickly," he said.Holden and Toyota have both vowed to stay until 2017. Ford said its aim was still to stay on until the planned closure in October 2016. "Our aim is to continue manufacturing until October 2016," Ford spokesman Neil McDonald said. "We are committed to the new Falcon and Territory models and they will be on sale at the end of the year."Victorian Manufacturing Minister David Hodgett said he'd had no indication that Ford would close early, but it would depend on sales. "In all my discussions with Ford, they've given every indication they'll be here to the end. Of course, this is dependent on sales figures, and I encourage all Victorians to continue to buy Australian-made cars, including Ford."The imminent threat of Ford's closure will also put pressure on the Federal Government to bring forward a $100 million package to help sacked car workers. Discussions on the fund, announced after Holden pulled the pin in December, were delayed after Toyota also announced its closure here.Ford's 1350 workers make Falcon and Territory models. But just 641 Falcon and 900 Territory vehicles were sold in March. Ford is facing hundreds of millions of dollars of losses if it stays to 2016 and rolls out a new Falcon model in August. 

Ford spokesman Wes Sherwood told the Herald Sun that workers were being told today. "It will be across our manufacturing sites in Victoria," he said. "We're working with our manufacturing unions and partners."Mr Sherwood said the unions were told of the cuts this morning and they were delivering the news to workers. There will also be down days or factory shutdowns as demand for Falcon and Territory models made at the plants declines. "We informed the manufacturing unions leadership this morning," he said.Dave Smith, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union vehicle division secretary, said that he was devastated by today's job losses and labelled the lack of government industry support as "madness". He said that there were now no guarantees that Ford would stay until 2016 as it planned. "That's always been there intent but that's not set in concrete," he said.But Mr Sherwood said the latest models of Falcon and Territory cars were still on track. The company will expand its retail range in 2017. Mr Smith said that today's announcement added to pressure on Toyota, which will be Victoria's last manufacturer when Holden also closes its doors in 2017. He said that the Federal Government was putting at risk more than 30,000 jobs because of its "ideological" campaign against industry support."Just 300 jobs has created a media storm, if Toyota leaves there's going to be 30,000 jobs all existing at the same time," he said. "The Federal Government are just locked into this madness." Manufacturing Minister David Hodgett said that the job losses were disappointing. "This further highlights the need to support Ford and Holden right up until they cease manufacturing in Victoria in 2016/17, both for the good of the workers themselves and the wider supply chain. We will continue working for this outcome," he said.Opposition leader Daniel Andrews said the latest Ford jobs blow showed Victoria was falling behind. "This is devastating news for workers in Geelong and Broadmeadows," he said. "Denis Napthine did nothing to save these jobs at Ford. Every day, our state is losing jobs. Our biggest companies are closing their doors, shops are shutting and the economy is hurting."In May last year Ford has announced its plants at Broadmeadows and Geelong will close their doors in October 2016, resulting in the loss of 650 and 510 jobs respectively. At the time Victorian Deputy Premier Peter Ryan said the end of manufacturing at Ford was a black day, but it has strengthened the case for the DisabilityCare headquarters to be based in Geelong. Mr Ryan said the state government would provide $9 million for affected workers and the federal government would provide $30 million.Read full story at www.heraldsun.com.au 

Key supplier CMI Fuel Systems went into voluntary administration today, with 30 jobs at its Bayswater plant saved until a new buyer can be found. Ernst and Young were appointed as administrators but have given AiAutomotive, which also went bust last year, the right to keep CMI Fuel Systems open. AiAutomotive is part of the Autodom group, which was kept afloat by a $6.5 million bailout from Ford and Holden in November. AiAutomotive receivers McGrath Nicol said in a statement today that the company would continue to supply fuel tanks under the deal. Keith Crawford, of McGrath Nicol, said that the company had taken over CMI Fuel Systems. "We will work constructively with the Voluntary Administrators and key stakeholders of CMI Fuel to stabilise operations,'' he said. "We also intend to investigate the possibility of an acquisition of the business by AiAutomotive.'' The blow comes after Holden sacked 500 workers last month following poor sales of the Cruze model. Holden spokeswoman Emily Perry said that the manufacturer had an adequate supply of LPG tanks. "We have a good supply of LPG fuel and we don't anticipate any disruption to our production,'' she said. "Holden also has a good working (relationship with) AiAutomotive and McGrathNicol and we're confident they will manage the CMI Fuel business effectively.'' Ford is yet to return calls from the Herald Sun.