Former AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd has been fined after driving over a planted roundabout and hitting a tree.

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.

However, he failed to appear on the careless driving charge and the matter was dealt with in his absence.

According to the police summary of facts, on July 13 about 8:30pm, Rudd was driving a 2009 Ferrari 599.

He was on Lakes Boulevard in Tauriko, on the outskirts of Tauranga, when he stopped after failing to navigate a roundabout.

"Skid marks and gouges out of the road were consistent with the vehicle becoming airborne over the planted roundabout, before leaving the road up a curb and colliding with a small tree," the summary said.

Rudd was taken to Tauranga Hospital by ambulance for observation.

The summary said he told police he didn't know what happened before the crash, and had been driving to see his daughter.

He also said he'd been knocked out earlier that day.

There was no reparation sought by police.

Rudd did not appear at an earlier court appearance in mid-September, nor at a formal proof hearing on Monday.

While Section 118 of the Criminal Procedure Act requires a defendant to be present at the hearing, Rudd's charge was a category one offence and the court was permitted to proceed without him.

Category one offences carry a maximum penalty of a fine or a community-based sentence with no possibility of imprisonment.

Police prosecutor Kerry Sykes handed up photos and a statement from a police officer.

"I've seen the formal statement from the police, there's no evidence to the contrary, I find the matter proven," community magistrate Shaun Cole said.

She fined Rudd $500 and ordered him to pay $100 court costs.

Rudd has faced charges in the Tauranga District Court before.

In November 2014, he was charged with attempting to procure the murder of two people after a police raid.

The charges were withdrawn by police.

However, he was charged with threatening to kill an employee and methamphetamine and cannabis offences after drugs were found in his home during a police raid.

Details given in court revealed he told an associate he wanted a former employee "taken out" and offered him $200,000, a motorbike and the choice of one of his cars or a house.

In July 2015, he received eight months' home detention after pleading guilty to the threatening to kill charge, as well as possession of 91g of cannabis and 0.478g of methamphetamine.

He appealed that sentence, having sought a discharge without conviction, but the High Court upheld Judge Thomas Ingram's sentence.