Queensland truckies’ frontline fighter Wes Walker was left shaking his head again at the sight of the fencing contractor back at the Gatton hook-ups this week.
A recent storm had damaged several panels and exposed the busy facility to the adjoining agricultural land of the University of Queensland.
The Department of Transport and Main Roads told Big Rigs the fence on the eastern side of the hook-ups had been installed as a “precautionary measure in the unlikely event any litter from the facility impacted nearby agricultural fields”.
“The fence has required minimal maintenance since the facility opened in 2021,” the spokesperson added.
Walker, however, strongly disagrees. He told Big Rigs that the “continuous repairs are out of control” and is adamant that patch-ups are a waste of time and taxpayers’ money – the fence shouldn’t have been built in the first place.
Even with all the panels in place, he said rubbish gets through its guard because there are several intentional openings in its length to bolster its structural integrity.
Walker believes taking down the fence and pushing out the eastern boundary of the trucking site would also make a dramatic difference to the number of trailers it could accommodate.
“The green space on that property is out of control. They’ve wasted a lot of valuable land for this facility,” said Walker, a legend around these parts for winning the long battle to have toilets allowed on site.
“They could have shifted the catchment canal over further and given truckies a lot more room.
“Down the back as well, it could have gone right to the back fence, but it didn’t. There’s too much wasted space. They haven’t utilised the land they bought to its capacity.”
Walker also said that there is now a pothole in that area that is growing by the day.
He placed a can of Coke in the hole to show Big Rigs readers how deep it now is.
“It’s breaking up quicker and quicker because it’s getting bigger and bigger. If they don’t fix it soon it’s going to become a really big job.
“When it rains it fills up with water so when trucks go through it, they just bust the arse out of it.”
Walker is pleased to see that truckies are at least starting to get the message about the need to leave dollies up the front of the facility.
He just wishes that TMR would take up his suggestion to install parking lines and time limit signs.
“As every truck driver out there I talk to says, it would be a much better facility if they did.”