Club News
by MICHAEL DURNIN
Loopholes in the law are normally discovered by chance and, in many cases, are later sealed as the result of test cases. A basically similar issue has arisen in connection with the Express and Star national rally. Broadly the situation appears to be that, on the rally route, a road which looked on the map as if it was clear had a “Road Blocked” notice at its entrance. At least one navigator decided to chance it and found that the road, in fact, was clear: as a result the enterprising crew did the section clean. Other crews saw the sign and assumed that it was correct and lost time in having to travel some four miles farther to reach the next control. When the results were issued the crews who had taken the long way round protested against the use of the road which was signposted as being blocked and had their protest upheld. This had a very material effect on the results and an appeal against the protest was later lodged. Obviously, this raises a most important issue, perhaps even the most important for years: if organisers, in future, plot their route through a road signposted “No Through Road”, “Not Suitable for Motor Cars” or, as on the R.A.C. International Rally itself “Suitable Only for Motor Cycles” and competitors heed these signs and so incur lateness penalties they will be in a position to quote a precedent for a successful protest. (All this, needless to say, unless the appeal against the Express and Star protest decision is upheld.) A Police spokesman from Scotland Yard said: “Such signs as the one encountered on the Rally are not binding on the public. They are merely there for purposes of warning and guidance and are in no way mandatory.” The position is still wide open but much of the routing on future national rallies will depend on the R.A.C. Tribunal's verdict on the appeal.