Queensland truckie Wayne Milne is suing his former boss for $1.1 million after a mining rig machine he was carting fell off a ramp at the Townsville port.
Milne, now 53, claims the 2019 incident caused him to suffer a right shoulder injury, exacerbation of neck and arm pain degeneration and a spinal injury, reports the Rockhampton Morning Bulletin.
According to the court documents, he underwent physiotherapy and had a radiology injection on his right hand.
Milne claims he still suffers pain in his right shoulder and is limited with any movement reaching behind his back, pushing himself off the floor or out of a chair and moving, loss of range of motion, general weakness and rapid fatiguing.
He also claims to suffer psychological episodes including nightmares, sleep disturbance, flashbacks, lack of motivation, low mood, anxiety and social withdrawal.
Milne had been employed as a driver for a haulage company based at Clermont at the time.
He collected the rig from a Mackay repair shop in Mackay and drove to the port. Milne claims that upon his arrival, there was no one there to assist with unloading.
Milne was not ticketed or licensed to operate machinery and no formal training in unloading such equipment.
The rig had tracks rather than wheels and was operated using small toggle switches.
Milne said he contacted his supervisor and received no response from his calls or messages.
He states he was under pressure to unload the rig as there was an extra charge if the rig was not unloaded within one hour.
Milne claims he attempted to reverse the rig off the low loader truck trailer however as he did, the rig toppled over and fell sideways off the ramp.
The former truckie claims he can no long drive long distances and is claiming a future loss of income of $768,825.
The personal injury lawsuit is for a total of $1,150,162.14 and was filed with the Rockhampton Supreme Court.