Three captured after ‘Pork Pie’-type chase

Press, 5 August 1985, Page 1

Three captured after ‘Pork Pie’-type chase

Two youths and a girl in a converted Mini car obtained petrol without paying at the Sheffield garage on Saturday, and were chased by the proprietor round the district for nearly an hour. During the chase several cars were run off the road.

The incident was an imitation of the movie, “Goodbye Pork Pie,” said the Darfield policeman, Constable Keith Fletcher, yesterday. “They had seen it all done on ‘Goodbye Pork Pie,’ so they thought they’d try it themselves.” The movie shown on television on July 28, is about the attempts of two men to drive a stolen Mini from Kaitaia to Invercargill. Constable Fletcher said that two youths and a girl had taken the Mini from Idris Road, Fendalton, overnight on Friday. One of them had to appear in court in Westport this week, and so on Saturday morning they began driving to the West Coast.

“They started running out of petrol, so they did a ‘Pork Pie’ trick,” he said.

The Sheffield garage proprietor, Mr Neville Croy, said that the Mini pulled into the forecourt and one of the youths asked for $2O worth of petrol. The girl got out of the car and walked inside the garage. Mr Croy asked for the money, but was told the girl had it. When he returned inside the garage to find her, she jumped in the car and the three drove off.

“I jumped in my car and followed them. I flashed them, but they wouldn’t pull over.” A 45 minute chase, at speeds up to 120 km/h, followed, in which “four or five” oncoming cars were run off the road, said Mr Croy. Several marker posts were knocked over, but none of the cars were badly damaged. Mr Croy was able to keep up with the fleeing Mini, and on several occasions drove in front of the car to get it to pull over. Mr Croy’s wife, Mrs Rosie Croy, joined the pursuit in the garage’s Dodge breakdown truck. J . “I got in front and slowed

down so they would catch up, but they did a handbrake turn and went back past the Dodge. I just couldn’t get them to stop.” Mr Croy gave up the chase after the Mini and his Avenger clipped each other. “There was no way of stopping them without doing some real damage. I thought then I’d be in trouble.”

The youths drove off, but got the car stuck while crossing a ford at Homebush Road. They abandoned it in water up to the seats, and ran off. The Mini was found in the ford about midday, and a police tracker dog was called in. Two youths and a girl were found in a haystack on State highway 72, about 2km away.

"They were like three drowned rats when we

caught them,” said Constable Fletcher.

He said that Mr Croy should not have tried to force them off the road, but should only have followed them.

“As far as I’m concerned, that was a stupid thing to do.”

Three persons, all aged 16, will appear in the Children and Young Persons Court today on charges of unlawfully taking a motorvehicle and stealing petrol.

The incident is the second “Goodbye Pork Pie” imitation since the movie was shown on television. In Wellington last week, a stolen Mini with the words “Pork Pie” painted on its side was noticed by the police, and three youths charged with unlawfully taking the vehicle.