Club Permit Woes
This piece of information was in the Ballarat Light Car club (Victoria) newsletter September 2014
“In the last couple of weeks at least one Club Permitted vehicle from another club was pulled over by the man in blue, and when asked to produce the vehicle entry log book, happily obliged with the appropriate entry for that day. However, when questioned about numerous specific days, when no entry had been logged, the vehicle driver adamantly stated he hadn’t entered those dates because the vehicle had not been used. The Constable then produced a police log of times, dates, places, locations, etc that the vehicle had been observed by police (and sometimes more than one officer). It became obvious that this owner had been fudging the log book. His log book has been confiscated as evidence (hence the vehicle can no longer be used regardless because it now doesn’t have a log book) and on inspection, the officer noted that all the entries were in pencil and previous entries had been rubbed out and superseded with a new one. He is now facing multiple charges of unregistered vehicle, falsifying documents, possibly attempting to pervert the course of justice, etc., etc. We are led to believe that an application will be made to the court in due course for the forfeiture of the plates issued to the vehicle. If found guilty, the ramifications to the Club Permit scheme may be huge. I would expect that in due course this will get back to VicRoads and who knows what is going to happen, not only to the vehicle owner but the club that issued them, and possibly every other club. No doubt that the Victoria Police will now internally publicise this incident for all members to be aware of when a club permit vehicle is seen/observed.”
The Title of ” Victorian Logbook Club Permit Scheme” refers to a series of changes introduced by VicRoads to take effect on 1 February 2011. The regulations: Road Safety (Vehicles) Amendment (Club Permit) Regulations 2010 under which the Scheme operates, is attached for your information (and also as an insomnia cure!). Refer also to the instructions provided with your logbook.
The Victorian Logbook Club Permit Scheme is administered by VicRoads under the VicRoads Business Rules. Victoria Police ensures compliance with the scheme. Some issues of the Scheme may not be specifically addressed in the Regulations and VicRoads Business Rules and so may be open to the subjective interpretation and consequently fall within a “grey area”.
As a consequence, where the interpretation is unclear, the IIRA recommends that the permit holder take a conservative position !! When and if your vehicle is used, please ensure you make a legitimate entry in the log book and use biro/pen. The entry must be in full , thus no abbreviations, no ditto marks. The regulations explicitly state that a permit holder must not complete or partially complete entries in a log book which relate to a future day.
In summary, the Logbook CPS requires that :
– The holder is a financial member of a club,
– The vehicle is safe and roadworthy,
– The vehicle is not used for commercial purposes
– A logbook entry is made if the vehicle moves more than 100 metres from the vehicle’s garage address.
Note a “day” in a logbook entry is from 12 midnight to 12 midnight.
Correspondence with VicRoads on the CPS should be addressed:
Club Permit Scheme
VicRoads
P.O. Box 1644
GPO
MELBOURNE 3001