‘‘If the driver of this vehicle had survived and had been convicted in court, I would suspect that there would be a very, very long jail sentence,’’ he said. Mr Lay acknowledged the situation was ‘‘desperately sad’’ for Mr Johnstone’s family and friends. ‘‘You can understand his young male colleagues are rallying around him,’’ he said. ‘‘A lot of it is immaturity. These are kids and they’re upset so I tend to cut them a bit of slack. ‘‘But I think particularly as parents, when you look at that sort of behaviour by young people, it is worrying.’’

Mr Lay said the Mill Park deaths were a reminder to parents to know where their kids are. ‘‘This is about a particular group of drivers that just simply do not play by the rules,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s very difficult to understand. It’s very difficult to get to them but that whole situation there was a set of circumstances where a tragedy was waiting to happen.’’ Mr Johnstone’s girlfriend of two years, Natalie Bryant, was with him at a party on Saturday night when the appearance of gatecrashers spurred him to move his prized car. The driver, his younger half-brother Will Te-Whare, 15, and four other mates were reportedly surrounded by five or six men as they attempted to leave. Mr Johnstone then sped off in anger.

Miss Bryant said some gatecrashers ran after him while others piled into another car and drove off in pursuit. By 2am, the apprentice roof tiler lay dead, along with Will, Mathew Lister, 17, Ben Hall, 19, and Anthony Iannetta, 18. Mr Iannetta’s sister, Elissa, 15, was the only survivor. She was released from the Royal Melbourne Hospital today. Miss Bryant this week paid tribute to her boyfriend, describing him as a "beautiful soul" who touched her with every word he spoke. But as several other teen drivers were caught breaking the law, Premier John Brumby promised a crackdown to solve the "terrible problem" of young male drivers and fast cars. "Whether we look at speed-limiting devices, whether we have to toughen up our hoon legislation, confiscating, selling or crushing vehicles . . . these are the things that we have got to look at," Mr Brumby said.

Police today slammed a teenage driver who was caught doing burnouts while carrying four passengers earlier this week. The 18-year-old driver has lost his license and had his new car impounded. Police said they are disappointed the driver, a P-plater from Craigieburn, was caught driving erratically on Monday in Lipton Drive, Thomastown shortly after 10.30pm, where about 100 cars had gathered. The driver, who is licensed to carry only one other passenger, has only owned the car for 11 days. His license has been suspended for seven months. Police said the teen was driving a 2002 Nissan Navara ute when he was seen performing burnouts near the scene of the Mill Park crash. It is understood he was close to other vehicles and large groups of bystanders at the time.

The passengers, who lived nearby, were an 18-year-old male, 17-year-old female and two 16-year-old females The Nissan was impounded for 48 hours. Police said the driver is expected to be charged on summons for failing to have proper control of a vehicle, careless driving, failure to display p-plates, driving with more than one peer passenger and other traffic offence. ''It was a crazy piece of driving, doing burnouts," Assistant Commissioner Tim Cartwright told reporters in Thomastown this afternoon. ''It was a crazy piece of driving, doing burnouts," Assistant Commissioner Tim Cartwright told reporters in Thomastown this afternoon. "He's got four or five people in the car, he's got six months' experience,” he said.

Pointing out recently left pieces of burnt rubber on the road and a lingering smell of smoke, he said: “People don't seem to be getting the lesson”. Last night three young drivers were booked doing 100 km/h in a 60km/h zone in Melbourne, he said. Police are appealing to parents and young people for "to take some more responsibility in this”. Loading Parents should be asking their daughter or son where they are going and how they are getting there, he said

- with Thomas Hunter, Andra Jackson