Author: IOPD

2024 licences will be available from early December and prices will remain the same as 2023.

The annual competition licence will now be available in two formats:
As a traditional licence card
As a digital (PDF) file that you can store on your phone or print your own copies so hopefully you always have one when you need it

The digital licences will contain a photograph for proof of ID instead of a signature. Because of this they will only be available from our website.

The One Event licences will continue to be issued as either a paper card by organisers or an email licence from the IOPD.

The HSE have just issued a safety alert:
Motorsport/Leisure Track Safety: trackside vehicle restraint barriers HSE Safety Notice EPD03-2023

You can click on the link above or download it as a PDF HERE

When the IOPD does a site inspection the course safety is already one of the key points we look at. If you are already one of our affiliates we would have flagged any concerns, including barriers to you if we felt there were any.

If you have any questions on the implications of this and your sites then please contact us.

The IOPD are extremely saddened at the passing of our Queen. Our heartfelt condolences go to the Royal Family.

The Queen was the Head of our Government under which the IOPD derives its statutory powers to authorise and disapply several crucial laws of her government.

The IOPD does not believe that it has the authority to instruct or advise its Affiliates to cancel any events. It believes that they must make that decision for themselves.

Many of our Affiliates will already have invested hundreds, thousands and even 10s of thousands of pounds in preparation for upcoming events. To cancel events could bankrupt the organisers, as some have not traded for nearly two years. We can only leave the decision to trade and provide recreational facilities to the individual organisers and wish them an incident free event.

The IOPD is still working in the background with the governance with its sector of Autosport. Staff are available to take your calls and emails as normal. Please bear with us as some replies /answers may take a little longer to process with staff working from home.

Unlike some Governing Bodies the IOPD has not released press or social media statements. But throughout the current pandemic the IOPD has sent to all its affiliates regular emails and letters updating any Government guidance as it has come out. In fact, it now has a documented 34-page Guide containing these dated updates on how to operate and keep Covid secure.

Again, the IOPD unlike many Governing Bodies, issues Annual Affiliation as well as one event permits. Unlike some Governing Bodies it has not withdrawn its annual permits as these are issued solely on a safety criteria basis as per the DfT and HSE Guidelines. Likewise, a permit would only be withdrawn on the same criteria. The conditions on an IOPD Permit do state that the permit is only valid if ‘the event takes place in accordance with guidelines received from the Department of Health and Safety and the Local Fire Authority’. So naturally if guidelines change and the affiliates cannot comply then the Authorisation Permit is invalid, and the event cannot take place.

The IOPD has published a series of Guides as a result of the ever-changing Government and HSE Guidance. They cover a range of topics from Regulations for running specific events to General information for example:

A Guide to Landowner User and Testing
A Guide to Court Judgements
A Guide to Authorisation
An Insurers Guide
A Guide for Enforcers
A Guide to IOPD Involvement in Court Cases. (in effect S Murty’s CV)

If you would like a copy of any of these Guides please contact the IOPD.