Rally Isle of Man finally gets the go ahead

Safety fears threatened to put a stop to the event

Rally Isle of Man has been given clearance to go ahead, after ongoing talks between the organisers and the Infrastructure Department.

It was proposed there should be an emergency debate in Tynwald on its possible cancellation, but it's now been confirmed the event, from September 13 to 15, will indeed take place.

Until East Douglas MHK Chris Robertshaw's moves to stage an emergency debate were voiced, there was no public indication that anything was wrong.

Exactly what the problems were that caused the DoI to say safety was an issue are still unclear.

Entries will start being accepted by the end of the week - up to now, the uncertainty has meant the organisers were unable to go ahead and open the lines for competitors to come forward.

However some are already in the process of preparing for the event, including cars being shipped from as far away as Japan.