Govt pulls pin on hot-rod chaperones for school formals
THE State Government has monitored a Toowoomba Facebook group linking classic car owners with Year 12 formal-goers and threatened members with maximum $2200 fines.
North Toowoomba resident and avid motoring enthusiast James Bailey opened his letterbox to find the rude surprise from the Department of Transport.
He was told the department officials would come after him unless he spent roughly $4000 to gain proper licensing to drop kids off to their formals and wives to their weddings.
He would also need to get his car inspected every six months in Brisbane, have a medical examination, keep a log book and undergo a background check.
Fear of retribution has spread throughout the community with many members of the group choosing to delete all online formal and wedding offers.
It means there will be a severe shortage of hotted-up cars available for students come graduation season.
"This is destroying the whole culture of formals in Toowoomba," Mr Bailey said.
"We just do this as a hobby because taking kids to formals and doing weddings is fun.
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"We're not doing it to make a living - we just want to cover our costs. We spend about three hours cleaning our car before each wedding."
Member Wayne Campbell is yet to receive a notice from DTMR but found the whole process offensive.
"It seems like a bit of revenue-raising without really explaining what it's supposed to achieve," he said.
"There are probably only six or seven cars in Toowoomba that are legitimately available.
"There are going to be a lot of kids turning up to their formals in their mums' busted Taragos."
