Boy racer Daniel Briant switched the ownership of his car multiple times to try to stop his "pride and joy" being crushed.

But his tactics proved unsuccessful when police turned up at his home at Paraparaumu Beach and seized his souped-up Nissan Laurel.

The 19-year-old said online on Wednesday that he was "praying" his car - worth about $9000 before it was seized - would not be the first to be crushed under boy-racer legislation.

However, a day later, it took less than 49 seconds and 150 tonnes of pressure to reduce the car to a flat slab of scrap metal at Macaulay Metals in Lower Hutt.

Briant had been found guilty of driving while suspended, sustained loss of traction and dangerous driving, leading to a 21-month disqualification.

He is awaiting sentencing on a fourth offence.

His father told The Dominion Post yesterday that he was happy his son's car had been crushed. Boy racers had to be stopped before someone was killed, he said. "He is learning from this lesson.

"He has been hit some pretty big blows over the last four or five months through the courts over what he has done.

"He enjoyed driving and loved the car, but there will be other cars, not boy racer cars.

"He has realised you cannot do this sort of thing and carry on - you have to find other ways of entertainment."

His son had owned the car for about a year. "He is pretty gutted. But his mother and I support what has happened 100 per cent. We are quite happy about the car being crushed but are gutted for him.

"I drive taxis and see boy racers all the time. You have to stop them, they are going to kill somebody."

Police revealed yesterday that Briant was caught doing multiple burnouts in the middle of State Highway 1 near Paraparaumu in front of an off- duty police officer and his children.

He was arrested as he tried to change his shredded tyres in the Burger King car park nearby, Constable Jason Andrews said.

Less than three hours after receiving his third strike from Porirua District Court, Briant was back behind the wheel, performing a burnout. He lost control and crashed into a fence.

It is understood Briant switched the ownership of the car multiple times in an effort to avoid it being crushed. On one occasion when Briant was arrested, a friend admitted registering the car in his name.

The Government passed the Vehicle Confiscation and Seizure Bill in 2008, earning then-police minister Judith Collins the sobriquet Crusher Collins.

The legislation means courts can order destruction of cars involved in three illegal street- races or burnouts in four years.

Orders can apply regardless of whether the car is owned by the person committing the offence.

Police Minister Anne Tolley was on hand to trigger the car- crushing machine yesterday, and signalled that it could be the first of many more to come, with 116 people on their second strike.

Milton teenager Karn Clarrie Forrest, 18, was due to be the first to have his car crushed after notching up his third offence of wheel-spinning in December last year.

But the action, due for April, was halted when police realised his 1982 Toyota Corolla DX had been switched before it could be taken to a Dunedin scrap metal yard.

It is understood the correct car has since been seized and Forrest is back before the courts.

Briant's car was crushed after the Justice Ministry sold it to Macaulay Metals. The company then stripped the car of useable items, which typically include magnesium wheels and catalytic converters, and sold them. The crushed remains will be sold for scrap metal.

- © Fairfax NZ News