ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
A Betoota Heights man who has been conducting what he describes as a "daily impromptu motoring event" in a 1996 Toyota Tarago has been sprung by a local historic vehicle enthusiast who has had just about enough of it.
Ryan Hargreaves, the 37-year-old founding member of the Far South-West Queensland Special Interest Vehicle and Pastoral Machinery Appreciation Club Incorporated, noticed the beige people-mover's distinctive club plates while waiting outside Our Lady of El Nino Catholic Primary School last Tuesday.
"I've got a Land Rover Series 1 that I can't drive to the pub without filling my logbook," said Hargreaves, visibly agitated. "This fat prick is using a Tarago as a school bus and telling Main Roads it's a cultural event."
The fat prick, who declined to be named but was nonetheless identified immediately because it is Betoota and there is only one 1996 Tarago, reportedly joined the club earlier this year solely to obtain the concession registration, which costs roughly $220 annually compared to the $930-plus he was previously paying.
Sources close to the club's committee suggest the man has submitted 143 impromptu event notifications since January, each listing a journey of 2.3km between his home and the school drop-off zone. Plus an additional 231 trips to the nearby shops.
Club secretary David Funktopus confirmed the events had technically been approved and published to the club's Facebook page, where they received zero likes and one angry emoji from Hargreaves, who also left a comment that saw him thrown in Facebook jail for 3 days.
"The scheme is based on the honour system," Hargreaves told The Advocate.
"And that bloke has got none. If I had nothing to lose, I'd walk up to him while he's sitting there with the windows down and underarm a bullet in his lap and say the next one's coming a lot fucken quicker if he doesn't stop dishonouring the club rego system!"
Main Roads has been contacted for comment and is yet to respond, as is typical.
More to come.
