An interstate truckie has shared his frustration after being fined $711 for driving a B-triple at 99km/h near Darlington Point on the Stuart Highway in NSW.
Shane Clamp, who has been a truck driver for 30 years, was stopped by a police officer who slapped him with a fine for “contravening the 90km/h speed limit” for PBS road trains.
However Clamp has claimed that the vehicle he was driving operates under National Class 2 Performance Based Standards (Tier 1) Authorisation Notice 2022 (No.1) and was allowed to be travelling on that road at 100km/h.
He told Big Rigs: “When I saw the candy car coming around the corner it was like I had just robbed a bank. There were flashing lights and sirens.
“The policeman pulled me over, and I said I wasn’t breaking the law.
“He said ‘No, you’re not breaking the state law but you’re breaking the PBS rule.’
“I was treated like a criminal, when the fine shouldn’t even have been issued.”
The incident originally happened in December 2022, and Clamp has since lodged multiple appeals with Revenue NSW.
All of his appeals have been rejected and the fine still applies.
The driver, who delivers supermarket produce from Adelaide to Sydney, said: “It’s caused me a lot of stress.
“I feel like Revenue NSW don’t care at all, as long as they have money flowing in.
“It’s just wrong, it’s robbery.”
Clamp wants to fight the fine in court, but as he’s based in Strathalbyn, SA, this would end up costing him more money than it would be worth.
“There’s a 99 per cent chance that I would win in court but if I didn’t, I would have to pay court costs,” he continued.
“I would also have to pay air fare to go to NSW, and accommodation costs.
“And I would have to be out of work for three days, so I would lose about $1400 gross.
“I asked Revenue NSW if I could fight my case in court via video call, and they said no.”
Clamp said he told a staff member at Revenue NSW that he was a law-abiding citizen who paid $38,000 in taxes in 2022, and was told that he must be earning “great money”.
“I’m always nice and polite when dealing with people, but that really annoyed me,” he said.
“I work extremely hard for my money. I earn every single cent.
“This job is getting more and more dangerous by the day.
“I walk out the door and I never know whether I am going to come home again.”
He added that government employees might think driving at 90km/h is safer than driving at 99km/h, but this is not always the case.
“It’s actually more of a hazard when you’re doing 90km/h because there are always morons behind you in their cars and they’ll do anything they possibly can to overtake you in that truck.
“I’ve had people overtake me on double white lines, going around corners. They are risking their lives and yours.”
Big Rigs has spoken to Revenue NSW about Clamp’s fine but they would not comment on the record about an individual case.
I can understand how Shane clamp feels as I have had my share of the enforcement not knowing the rules in the 54 years of driving singles , triples in NT and b,doubles. Shane stated at 90 kph he comes across morons in cars but I tell you guys and Shane there is just as many driving trucks and as I have , Shane would have to agree. Every one wants to do the speed limit they are allowed to instead of sitting back and take it easy.
Talk about a drama queen. “It was like I robbed a bank they had their lights and sirens on” of course they did. How else do you know you have to pull over. “They treated me like a criminal” so you were arrested, handcuffed and taken back to the station to be charged?