Author: Stephen Taylor

AN EDITHVALE car buyer was one of 91 victims of a trickster who allegedly wound back the speedos on cars he was selling online. Police at Mornington yesterday charged the man, 29, of Reservoir, with obtaining financial advantage by deception and acting as an unlicensed motor car trader. He was bailed to appear at Frankston Magistrates’ Court for a filing hearing and is expected to be tried at the Country Court at a later date. Detective Senior Sergeant Nick Vallas, of Mornington police, will allege the man on-sold vehicles to the value of $1 million after buying them at motor…

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THE poor state of ovals at Bonbeach Reserve has forced Kingston Council to apologise to the Bonbeach Football Netball and Bonbeach YCW Junior Football clubs. The ovals – surrounding the modernised clubrooms – host games for hundreds of children each week. The apology followed a warning letter from the clubs saying the Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League had declared the reserve “unsafe” for football, and that it would not schedule senior games there “until the playing surface has been brought up to the required standard”. Kingston Council CEO John Nevins said council had been working with the clubs to urgently…

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THE Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating a collision on the ground at Moorabbin Airport on Saturday in which two planes were severely damaged. The incident involved a Piper PA-28 and a Cessna 172. During its initial climb, the Piper’s crew reported a rough running engine and dashed back to Moorabbin. However, when landing, it overshot the runway and collided with the taxiing Cessna causing substantial damage to both aircraft. Three occupants of the Cessna suffered minor injuries. As part of the investigation, the bureau will interview the pilots, obtain air traffic surveillance data and gather additional information. Communications officer…

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WHAT a day it was for the 15,000 spectators and 2500 competitors in this year’s Ironman Asia Pacific Championship at Frankston last week. The athletes began their day with a 3.8km bay swim, followed by a 180km ride along Eastlink and a 42.2km run along Nepean Hwy and Beach Rd to St Kilda. Canadian tri-athlete Jeff Symonds, 29, won the men’s title in eight hours, four minutes and 28 seconds, with Australian Melissa Hauschildt, 31, the first female home in eight hours, 52 minutes and 51 seconds. She is the first Australian woman to win the race in Melbourne. The…

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FOLLOWING a successful road policing campaign over the Labour Day long weekend – when they conducted 3233 roadside tests and detected 380 offences – Kingston police will be out in force this Easter break. During that weekend in March, they caught 11 drink/drivers and 70 speeding drivers – several more than 25km over the limit – as well as 56 drivers using mobile phones and 52 driving unregistered cars. Two cars were impounded. Police detected a large number of drivers illegally using mobile phones and other items. Speeding offences were also up on previous years. “We also processed a number…

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