Melbourne truckie Craig Barlow thought a close shave with a bus in Craigieburn, Melbourne, was the end of his surprises for the week.
So, imagine his horror then when mates started messaging him to say the clip of the incident he’d posted on a private Facebook group, Truck Dash-Cam Australia, was broadcast on 7News Melbourne’s 6pm bulletin this week, without his permission.
We’ve asked 7News for an explanation because this is a clear breach of copyright, given that Barlow’s intention was for it to screen only in the private group.
If 7News then downloaded it from another public site, it doesn’t let them off the hook.
Fortunately, the short TV report didn’t vilify Barlow in any way when showing a heavily edited version of the video, but nor did it tell the whole story either.
It didn’t say that the bus driver seemed to sit in the wrong lane with a bus load of passengers for an inordinate amount of time before confronted with a Western Star semi bearing down on him.
It didn’t say that Barlow was doing everything right, checking his side mirrors to make sure the left lane was clear and his trailer wasn’t running over the gutter, and no other traffic were turning right from the opposite direction.
It also didn’t say that when a shocked Barlow did come to a safe stop well clear of the bus, the bus driver started to gesture as if it was the truckie’s fault for being there.
“He started to wave his hands around as if to say, ‘you get out of my way’,” said Barlow.
“Then when he finally realised he was on the wrong side of the road, he started to reverse back 50 metres but he was all over the road and nearly cleaned up a few cars in process.
“You should have seen the look on the passengers’ faces. How does this guy get a licence?”
And for the record, yes, we did ask Barlow for permission to broadcast the clip, as we do with all material in private Facebook groups.