The new National Transport Laws treat truck drivers like criminals. Three recent cases in Queensland show how truck drivers will be treated nation wide when the National transport laws come into affect in every state at the end of September.
We highlited in a recent article that while the laws were passed by the Queensland parliament with all good intent, when enforced by police they are frightening. This new legislation is one of the main causes of the planned national shutdown by truck drivers.
Case 1: Driver Dean Vilimovsky Lumbar Transport Deniliquin NSW.
Fined $2,000 – lost 9 Points off his license, Finger Printed & Photographed by Police.
Dean delivered a load of fencing wire to Bayrick station just east of Agathella Western QLD. He arrived late in the afternoon and so stayed overnight and unloaded the next day. I have confirmed this with Bayrick manager Matt Perters.
After unloading he headed back but and at 5.30pm in the afternoon was stopped just outside of Charleville by 4 Uniformed Charleville police.
After inspecting his log book he was given 3 breach notices. The first was that he had failed to record a change of activity in his log book – $600 fine and loss of 3 points. Dean says that he accepts that he had forgot to do this and the fine was in order.
The second and 3rd breaches were because the was a 30 hour gap in his log book (nearly all of this was spent at Bayrick). The officers maintained that all of his activity at Bayrick should have been recorded. He was fined $600 plus a loss of 3 points for the 1st 24 hours and then $600 plus 3 points for period over 24 hours.
The police then said because his log book did not show that he had rested as per the fatigue laws they were grounding him for 12 hours. This meant that he could not even drive the truck the 1 km into Charleville to get to a rest stop with facilities. The police required he spend 12 hours on the side of the road with no shower, toilet, food or water. If he wanted to get to town he could walk or hitch a ride.
At 11.30pm that night (6 hours later) Dean decided he’d had enough and headed off. He was stopped again further down the road by more police. After they checked his licence and log book which was now all in order. But after check their in car computer they told him that there was a notice out on him. The police informed him that he had disobeyed a police instruction and he had 7 days to voluntarily report to a Queensland police station and if he did not a warrant would be issued for his arrest.
Dean reported to the Goondiwindi police station on his way through and was finger printed and photographed by the police. He said it was a degrading experience. I felt like a real criminal going through that.
The upshot is that the case went though the Charleville magistrates court and uncontested he was fined a further $200 with thankfully no criminal conviction recorded.
The final result of Dean’s trip to Sunny QLD was $2,000 in Fines – 9 points lost of his licence. He told us he won’t be coming back.
Case #2: Driver for Hawkins transport Karumba Far North Queensland.
Fined $600 and lost 3 points.
I spoke with Karumba General transport owner Bradley Hawkins. They do a general freight run from Brisbane to Karumba each week. He told me that just this week 2 of his drivers had been fined. The first was doing the general frieght run.
He was stopped by the Cairns Main Road police just 100kms short of Karumba. His log book, rest times and all else were in order. However the driver had not drawn a line across the page after he’d entered his rest break and the recommencement of his journey.
The result $600 fine and loss of 3 points of his licence.
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Case #3. Driver for Hawkins transport near Charters Towers NQ.
Fined $600 and lost 3 points.
Once again just this week another of Bradley Hawkins drivers was pulling freight from Charters Towers to Normanton. Once again the main roads police from Cairns. He was pulled over just after leaving Charters Towers. The log book inspected. He had just started a new log book. The old one and the new one were all in order. However he had not filled in the name of his home depot in the front of the book.
The result $600 fine and 3 points off his license.
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The above 2 drivers more than half of their weeks pay. These are decent men who have families and mortgages to pay.
Heavy transport drivers have 12 points on their license just like car drivers. However if the loss all 12 points under the transport legislation they loss their license for a defined period usually for 3 months. That means their career and lively hood is usually finished.
No wonder 1,000’s of drivers across the country are willing to stay at home and fore go 2 weeks pay during the 2 week transport shut down to have these laws changed.
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Have your say! What do you think? Do you support Mick Pattel & the Truck Drivers?
Tags: Mick Pattel, Transport
