Fed up with local trucks filling their site, Puma Epping has put a new system in place to help ensure interstate truckies have somewhere to pull up for the night.
As of yesterday January 17, any cars or trucks parked at Puma Epping for more than one hour without a valid interstate truck driver permit could face an infringement notice from the City of Whittlesea. Interstate truck driver permits are issued by staff at the site, free of charge.
As with many truck stops, the problem of local trucks filling up parking bays at Puma Epping had become an ongoing headache – especially for interstate truckies. The truck parking area has been constantly occupied by locals and the truck stop was losing business because of it.
Puma Epping wanted to ensure the truck parking area was left for the interstaters, as it was intended and contacted the Whittlesea council, which has been happy to assist.
WA Senator and former truck driver Glenn Sterle took to social media to applaud the action taken at the truck stop.
“The truck parking area had been occupied by locals ever since they opened the site a couple of years ago, which has become a serious problem for interstate truck drivers. A lot of interstate truck drivers complained directly to Puma about this as they were unable to find a parking spot when they pulled up,” Sterle said.
“As a solution to this, Puma informs me that they have teamed up with the local council and are enforcing fines for trucks and cars that are parked on the premises for more than an hour without a valid permit. Permits will be provided by Site Staff to Interstate Trucks only, similar to what they have done at the Puma site in Kewdale in Western Australia.”
“I’d like to give a shout out to Puma and congratulate them for listening to the concerns of truck drivers and for putting in a system that will give interstate truckies an opportunity to have somewhere safe to pull up to have a rest,” Sterle added.
“And good on the City of Whittlesea as well! Now we need other local governments to step up and introduce similar systems to guarantee our essential truckies a place to rest while they comply with national fatigue laws.”
A spokesperson for Chevron Australia Downstream, which runs the Puma network of service stations, says the parking limit changes have vastly improved traffic flow at the truck stop too.
“Importantly, it has freed space for interstate truck drivers. Long-haul truckies can use a free permit to park longer or overnight to use our rest facilities,” they said. “We are committed to providing safe, reliable parking and convenient dining and bathroom facilities for working truck drivers.
“The parking improvements have received positive feedback from our customers, including interstate and regionally-based truck drivers.”