victorian p plate power restrictions and work exemptions

[sv9946]

hey guys.

i'm a forth year apprentice mechanic, almost finished. i work for my father at his car dealership/workshop whatever, and as per most mechanic's i'm required to drive "high performance vehicles" during the course of my employment. this according to vicroads does even include v8 turbo diesel landcruiser's, as they're turbocharged (some turbo diesels are excluded, but only upto 6cyl) rules are listed here
High powered vehicle restrictions that apply if you obtained your probationary licence after 1 July 2007 | Arrive Alive


now according to this site here, P plate Drivers & High Powered Vehicles : VicRoads
a written exemption, as was previously needed, is no longer necessary nor after writing them a letter will they provide me with one, simply stating the onus is on me to prove each and every time i drive one its required for work. whilst most police officer's are good, and on seeing your driving a turbo diesel landcruiser (which isn't exactly what i'd call a high performance race car) equipped with tools and wearing overalls, i've recently found some prefer to muck you around for 2 or more hours, especially in the early hours of the morning on a recent breakdown. not only did this lead to my clients being unimpressed with me being so late, but it meant i missed out on sleep after finishing the job for bullshit!

anyway, i've been stewing over it, and i don't see why it's my problem to prove it each and every time, which is even harder when i've driven ss, maloo or xr8 ute's... trust me on that one. i'm 18 and still on red P1 probationary p plates for another 4 months yet.

basically i heard on the radio today, something about p plater's who have abn's (which i do for my business i run after hours) can or soon will be able to receive exclusions once again, (which we could up until the recent changes where we went to p plates for 4 years instead of 3). i only heard a little bit of it unfortunately, and wondering if anyone else heard something about it? i cant find anything....if this is true, it would make my life so much easier for the next 3 years for obvious reason's. also i could finally buy myself an ss ute instead of sv6, which would be more suitable for me to do my towing for work, due to bigger brakes, more weight in front end, more pulling torque etc etc.

so anyway, anyone else heard anything? or anyone else had luck with a written vicroads exemption since this new p plate system has come in?

thanks guys

[one_and_only2004]

They have something similar to this going on in NSW at the moment. Like you my friend got himself a job at a mechanics and required an exemption to drive a few v8's every now and then. He sent away hundreds of forms and now he can legally drive any v8/turbo car whenever he wants on his red p's.

Apparently another way to get past these restrictions is register for an ABN, register the said illegal vehicle (in your case the SS ute) in the business name, then apply for the exemption on the grounds that you need it for your company to prosper - two of my friends have done this.

[sv9946]

cheers mate, only in victoria we can't register vehicles in business names unless we register as a company, so not only a abn, but acn is needed. trouble trouble trouble..

seriously though, wednesday night, main street going to a breakdown at 3:30am (bloke had been to the pubs, finished coming back out to his car to find he left the lights on - or so he thought anyway) driving a v8 turbo diesel landcruiser tray wearing overalls, battery pack on the floor, new battery, spanner's everywhere, invoice book to charge the fella, everything 100% legit and hassled for hours! i don't need that, and thats half the trouble - almost everytime for my job it will be a different vehicle. it was quite obvious what i was doing was trying to fix a blokes car, not pull burnout's in a supposably high powered diesel 4wd.

anyway, i'll send off yet another letter to vicroads and see what crock of shit answer i get this time