New Zealander who rode motorbike with barbecue fined $800

A New Zealand man caught riding his motorbike along Melbourne's Eastern Freeway with a barbecue strapped to his body has been fined $800 and lost his license for a month. The Melbourne Magistrates court was told Michael Wiles, 29, spotted the barbecue where it had been left for a rubbish collection and decided to pick it up and take it home.

He threaded his body through the barbecue's frame before setting off on the freeway on January 27, 2008, reaching speeds of up 75kph. But the bargain hunt came unstuck when a stunned passer-by took a photograph, which was subsequently published in the news media and led to Wiles's identity being revealed and a visit from the police.

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Magistrate Lionel Winton-Smith told Wiles he has never encountered a case such as this in all his years as a magistrate. "I have seen people with perhaps bits of wood sticking out of the car, but a barbecue?" Winton-Smith said. He settled on describing the case as "ridiculous".

Wiles' lawyer argued the incident was completely out of character for his client, who had emigrated to Australia from New Zealand five months before the event. His lawyer Paul McClure told the court there had been a further setback as the barbecue turned out to be "a dud". "That's probably why it was on the side of the road," McClure said.