Former AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd has been fined after driving over a planted roundabout and hitting a tree in New Zealand, according to The New Zealand Herald.
The 72-year-old ex-rocker, whose legal name is Phillip Hugh Norman Witschke, faced a charge of careless driving in the Tauranga District Court. He was part of the high-profile Australian band for more than 30 years and has lived in Tauranga since 1983.
Rudd failed to appear on the careless driving charge, and the matter was dealt with in his absence. Community magistrate Shaun Cole fined him $500 and ordered him to pay $100 in court costs.
Rudd was driving a 2009 Ferrari 599 on July 13 about 8.30pm. He was on Lakes Boulevard in Tauriko, on the outskirts of Tauranga, when he stopped after failing to navigate a roundabout.
Rudd has been a key figure in AC/DC across three stints. He first joined the band in 1975 and stayed until 1983. He left during the recording of Flick of the Switch. He returned in 1994 after the band invited him to jam following its 1991 New Zealand tour. He rejoined fully after the “Big Gun” recording for the film Last Action Hero.
Rudd was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003 alongside the rest of AC/DC. After bassist Mark Evans left in 1977, he became the only Australian-born member of the group.
His legal history goes back several years. In 2015, he was sentenced to eight months of home detention after pleading guilty to threatening to kill and drug possession. He was then ousted from AC/DC. After moving to Tauranga, he reportedly bought a helicopter company.
