Tasmanian motorcycle company Braaap fined $25,000 for regulatory breaches

A magistrate says a Tasmanian motorcycle business put its own financial concerns ahead of stringent road safety laws when it shipped 25 bikes to an interstate dealership without federal approval.

Brad Smith founded the now-embattled motorcycle business Braaap as a teenager in Launceston. Picture: CHRIS KIDD.

A MAGISTRATE says Tasmanian motorcycle business Braaap Wholesale Pty Ltd put its own financial concerns ahead of stringent road safety laws when it shipped 25 bikes to an interstate dealership without federal approval.

Braaap, now in liquidation and owing $130,000 to the Australian Taxation Office, was on Tuesday fined $25,000 for nine contraventions of the Motor Vehicle Standards Act, to which the company had pleaded guilty earlier this month.

The Launceston Magistrates Court heard Braaap founder Brad Smith had pleaded with the federal Department of Industry and Regional Development in 2016 for permission to ship 57 imported bikes to a dealership in Sydney, with whom it had a $1 million deal in the balance.

Braaap sent 25 of the bikes to the dealership without identification plates attached, even though the permission to do so never arrived.

The company also found itself in hot water after a May 2016 audit found six motorbikes Braaap had imported had components, such as brake pads, rear vision mirrors and lamps, fitted that did not match the parts specified in their import permit.

MORE OF TODAY’S NEWS

PLAN REVEALS NEXT STEPS IN RHH REDEVELOPMENT

WATERFRONT LAND TO SWEETEN DEC DEAL

‘SMALL STEPS’ TOWARDS OUR OWN AFL TEAM

STAR STUDENTS: HOBART COLLEGE

STUDY TO INVESTIGATE CITY CONGESTION BUSTERS

While the bikes were all later found to be fully compliant with Australian design standards, magistrate Ken Stanton said Braaap had been “reckless” about the risk to road users.

The court heard Braaap had engaged a specialist company to provide it with importation advice when it decided to begin selling road bikes after years of dealing in dirt bikes.

Mr Stanton said the failure to have the correct parts fitted was a “technical breach but not a consequential one”.

Braaap was also found to have failed to attach stationary noise labels to several bikes, forcing it to issue a recall that cost the company $50,000.

Mr Stanton said Braaap’s guilty plea, while not entered at the earliest opportunity, indicated “corporate remorse”.

He said, while the Sydney dealership did end up turning to another supplier and Braaap failed to profit, it was nonetheless “a clear case of putting the financial interests of Braaap ahead of compliance with the regulatory scheme and its safety focus”.

Braaap has 28 days to pay its fine. Mr Stanton said he had taken the company’s parlous financial circumstances into account when setting the amount.

The company had faced a maximum penalty of $54,000 per charge, or $486,000 in total.