Friday the 13th

[Blair]

I thought I might tell you all a little story!

Last Friday (13th) I had planned to drive my Cobra from Brisbane to Cairns. I had called Qld Transport numerous times to make sure I could legally drive my car on the road. I was told to by them to get a ‘Class 22’ permit which would allow me to drive and unregistered vehicle for 7 days as long as I gave a specific time of departure from a certain place and the specific time of arrival at a destination. This ‘Class 22’ permit was actually given to me by the Insurance company which I went through and was sent to me via registered mail. I specifically asked if I needed a ‘Permit to move an Unregistered Vehicle’ form. I was told (3 times I rang) that the ‘Class 22’ paperwork was all I needed. Excellent!

So early on Friday morning I jumped in my car and drove down to the Gold Coast to get the Cobra dyno tuned. Two hours later and 300rwhp later I was on my way to DRB to pick up my speedo. Then off to the Mt Gravatt Police department to get my Vin numbers and that is where it all started.

Firstly I drive in to the police station to find there are no parking spots. A copper comes up to me asks what I am doing and I tell him I am getting Vin numbers. He says just park it here (an illegal parking spot where only cop cars are supposed to park) and go inside and see the officer at the desk. Five minutes later I am walking outside with a police officer to do the paperwork to find a police officer getting angry I had parked illegally. He threatens to take my plates off me because you are not allowed to have unregistered plates on your car even though they were covered with sticky tape. He then tells me I am driving illegally on the road because the car is not registered! I show him the paperwork (Class 22) and he says this is not sufficient. Half an hour later he is threatening to confiscate my Cobra! I tell him go and call the numbers on the permit (Class 22) and find out for yourself.

Whilst he is off ringing authorities, all the other police officers drool over my Cobra as I take my covered up plates off, and the Vin number paperwork is completed. After some time, for story purposes we’ll call him Angry Officer comes back and hands me my paperwork and says you are right to go. No sorry, just you can go now. Of course I could have rubbed it in his face but I didn’t and asked what he had found out? He said ‘with this permit you can drive any unregisterd ADR approved vehicle, but you do need a Qld Transport Permit to move an Unregistered Vehicle’.

That’s when I knew I was in trouble. The cops wouldn’t let me move my Cobra from the station until I had my Vin numbers. By this time Angry Officer had worked out (after making more calls) that my car had not been ADR approved by Qld Transport. It didn’t matter that my Engineer had passed it. It had to be ADR approved by Qld Transport. In the end the police believed my paperwork was actually legal. Three hours later I left the station . . . Legally I wasn’t allowed to drive the Cobra!

So I was pretty pissed off by now. I ring around and find out many people with Cobras do it. So bugger it, I go to Qld Transport and fill in a Permit to move an Unregistered Vehicle, which I was told I didn’t need by Qld Transport and the police in earlier discussions. All is going fine and I am about to actually pay for the Permit to move an Unregistered Vehicle when a supervisor walks over to talk to the fellow who is serving me. Turns out it is about a different matter completely however conversation turns to my application and I get SHUT DOWN because my vehicle has never been ADR approved before. This supervisor definitely had dealt with a situation like this before.

By this time I have had enough and go home. I book my return flights over the internet and fly home the next day. The two good things I took home from the trip is that I drove my Cobra for 4 hours and loved it and PCC came to visit me which took longer then expected and actually minimised the time spent at wedding appointments that the girlfriend managed to organise in a short amount of time .

The moral of the story is this:

a) A Permit to move an Unregistered Vehicle seems to depend on who you get at Qld Transport. People / farmers get these permits all the time for farm equipment at home. They can drive machinery which does not even get sighted by Qld Tranport (and could be a bucket of ** and has never been ADR approved yet are legal to drive on the Road! Why not my Cobra!
b) Secondly has anyone heard of the clause in a permit to move an unregistered vehicle which states the vehicle must be an ADR approved vehicle?
Overall never do anything regarding Cobras and Friday the 13th. I learnt the hard way.