A truck driver who got stranded in Western Australia due to a faulty fuel gauge has thanked his fellow truckies for their kind efforts to help.
Michael Turner was stuck 46km outside Norseman for hours on Saturday after the truck he had borrowed suddenly died.
He told Big Rigs: “I was using a hire truck because we had blown the motor off the truck I usually drive.
“We drove the hire truck back to Adelaide, loaded up a load of timber and came back.
“But the fuel gauge was faulty. When I filled up, it said it was full at the border.
“I ran out before I got to Norseman, and there’s only 717km from the border to Norseman.
“The gauge said I still had a quarter of a tank left, and then the truck just suddenly died on me. I lost all power.”
Thankfully, Turner was able to get the truck safely off the road.
“I was 100 tonnes so pretty heavy.
“It was lucky enough where it happened that I was able to wrangle the truck into a parking bay.”
Needing help, Turner put some calls out on the UHF channels and contacted a company for roadside assistance.
“That company wanted $3,000 to come out from Coolgardie and they wouldn’t bring fuel. So I don’t know what the purpose of that was.
“I also called out on the UHF a few times and no-one answered.”
Turner, who works for Fennell Forestry, then decided to post in two Facebook groups he is a member of – WA Truckies and Big Rigs and On the Pads SA.
“I got plenty of responses from both,” he continued.
“WA was great, there were guys hitting me up and sending me messages.
“There was one guy, he was just 48km out. I said ‘I’m at the next parking bay mate!’”
Just as Turner’s knight in shining armour pulled in to help, a towing company from Norseman arrived with fuel at the same time.
“The company that I work for had organised a guy from Norseman to bring me fuel so he brought me 80 litres and followed me back to Norseman.
“I gave him a jerry can of fuel for his trouble, then I filled up my tanks and got going.”
Turner said he was really happy to see how eager other truckies were to help him out.
“It’s good to know that if you’re stuck, there are people who will offer you a hand.
“I’ve always done it myself, I’ve always helped people or offered to help. I’m glad that I’m not the only one out there.
“It’s a great community and I just wanted to thank everyone who contacted me.”