A local business has been forced to put on the brakes.
Stevie Go-Go was pulled off the road at the end of August.
Owner/Operator Steve Devlin said when applying for licence plates and registration the tuk-tuk was mistakenly listed as a two-door sedan and not a three wheel, low speed vehicle.
"The three-wheel vehicles that I have, the tuk-tuks, would require passengers to have helmets and doors on the tuk-tuks," said Devlin. "It takes away from the experience. And for the low-speed vehicles, I'd have to put a fourth wheel on it, and there's nowhere to add another wheel that would satisfy the requirements of the ministry, so I'm kind of in a grey area."
Devlin said the vehicles were custom made to be permitted on Ontario roads.
"I have seatbelts for the amount of seats I have, I have roll bars, I have handle bars for people to grab on to," said Devlin. " I don't go fast. They only go as fast as 40 kilometres an hour and when vehicles are around me I pull to the side, I let them go by. I only drive on open roads. I try to be as safe as possible."
Devlin said with the support of Mayor Mike Bradley, MPP Bob Bailey, MP Marilyn Gladu and Tourism Sarnia-Lambton he is appealing to Transport Canada to have his three-wheeled vehicles exempt from requiring passengers to wear helmets and the addition of safety doors.
"I'm putting a request and a letter together and letters of support from the mayor, Marilyn Gladu, from Bob Bailey, Tourism Sarnia-Lambton, from all the restaurants that I visit all summer long, they've all supported me," he said. "This whole package is going in, with the safety statistics and pictures of the vehicles, and hopefully we get put into the three-wheeled category, with the exception of helmets and doors. That's all I want, and then I can be on the road next year."
Devlin said up until being pulled off the road, community support had been great and business was good.
"Everyday I was out there, I had private rentals, I had weddings that I was doing, I had birthday parties, even my normal taxi service that I was going for five bucks a head," he said. "Ya, it was fantastic."
Devlin currently has three tuk-tuks and hopes to expand his business in the future.