Victoria Police have initiated a crackdown on illegal car meets and defective vehicles in the Dandenong area, resulting in substantial fines being issued.

The operation follows a recent surge in unauthorised gatherings of modified vehicles.

“If you attend these events, you will be spoken to by police,” Acting Senior Sergeant Shaun Tolliday said.

“These hoon events are extremely dangerous and extremely concerning to us.”

Tolliday said the aim was to prevent tragedies, “so police don’t have to knock on their family’s door and inform their loved ones and relatives that they’re not coming home”.

The police operation has involved the issuing of more than 160 letters to individuals suspected of owning defective vehicles or participating in illegal car meets across the south-east region and along Chapel Street.

One driver, whose vehicle was deemed unsafe and subsequently towed, lamented the situation, saying it was “gonna cost me time and money”.

“I think it’s pointless, I think it’s unfair on people that are car enthusiasts but that’s just me,” they said.

A probationary driver intercepted near one of the gatherings said “we were gonna get kebabs” and another said “we just saw a group of cars, decided to follow them spinning around in circles and we thought this is no good and jetted off”.

“No zoom zooms for me,” they said.

Another driver claimed his vehicle may have been “in the wrong place at the wrong time”, stating, “the kids sometimes drive it, my ex sometimes drives it, and it’s been caught somewhere it should be, apparently”.

The police operation aims “to take dangerous vehicles off the road and keep motorists safe amid our skyrocketing road toll”.