A truckie has told how he was fined $580 and “yelled at” by two compliance officers at the Marulan weighbridge in NSW for forgetting to write that day’s date in his logbook.
Greg Davies said the incident was really put into perspective after he got home, when he was watching a TV show about Victoria Police.
“The police apprehended a lady for doing 77km/h in a 60 zone,” he said.
“They then realised her car was unregistered, she was driving while disqualified, she had three unrestrained children in the back seat, and tested positive for meth.
“She went to court and received six months to her existing suspension and was fined $300 – less than I was fined!”
Davies’ fine was issued six years ago by the RMS, which became Transport for NSW in 2019 – though the Marulan weighbridge is now manned by NHVR officers.
Although it happened quite a while ago, it’s still a sore point for the 55-year-old, and he thinks it’s a prime example of why many drivers are walking away from the transport industry.
“Some of the fines handed to truck drivers are just ridiculous,” he said.
“If they were more in line with the offences, I would understand.
“Fines like that are going to deter people from entering the industry, and lead to more people leaving.”
Davies’ altercation at the weighbridge occurred not long after his wife at the time had suffered a heart attack, and she had come with him in the truck so that he could look after her.
“On my first trip after my wife’s heart attack, we had to go from Brisbane to Sydney and then Sydney to Melbourne,” he said.
“We came down to the Sydney markets – and if you know what the markets are like, it’s a bit hectic there – say just after midnight.
“I wanted to get out towards Marulan so that she could have a shower and get breakfast, and I could go to sleep.
“But when I left the markets, I forgot to put the date in my logbook on the new day.”
Davies was waved into the weighbridge for an inspection, where he was met by “the rudest people” he’s ever come across.
“The first fella came out and I said ‘Good morning, how are you?’
“He just yelled at me, ‘Logbook and licence!’
“I was a bit taken aback by that.
“I was like ‘Wow, aren’t you in a good mood?’”
He said a second officer then approached to check the lights on his truck, and was equally hostile.
“I put my foot on the brakes a couple of times to test them, and he walked around the truck, then came up to my window to ask me if I knew my left-hand headlight wasn’t working.
“It had been working before I left – it must have just blown, I guess.
“I said I hadn’t realised that it had stopped working, and he just swore his head off at me.
“He said ‘Well you should f**king know, because I knocked you off for this three days ago, but you obviously haven’t bothered to fix it!’
“But that wasn’t true. I don’t know if he was confusing me with someone else, or what.”
Davies said the officers then called him into their office and threw a defect notice for the headlight across the table, before fining him $580 for forgetting to write in that day’s date.
“I told them that 99 per cent of officers would have just handed me back my logbook and allowed me to quickly scribble in the date.
“He said, ‘Yeah I could do that, but I’m not gonna.’”
Davies, who is from Gatton in Queensland, admits he had “some words” with the officers after that, because he couldn’t believe how badly he was being treated.
“I’ve been driving for 27 years and that’s the only time in my life I’ve ever been spoken to like that by an officer,” he said.
He tried to appeal the fine, but was rejected.
“They said that because I had been knocked off three times in ten years, it was fatigue related and I had to pay it,” he said.
Transport for NSW did not respond to a request for comment.
The answer to this issue is simple. What must be done is the truck driver to purchase a body worn camera to be worn during any “ROADSIDE DEALINGS” with persons of “Authority” recording exactly what is said and done. It is time to use their 21st century garbage against them…. No more yelling, swearing or discrimination against the driver….. They take their footage to court when it suits them it is time we did the same…
Yep, that’s why I’m driving trains now (actual trains, not road trains lol). Got pulled over at West Wyalong in 2019, and all my entries were ahead of the cameras for that day by 1 hour. Turned out I had started the book at say 5am but actually hit the road at 6am. Scalies (and later the prosecutor in court) admitted there was absolutely no fatigue rules broken. Court attendance notice given, I gave up the court day without pay to attend, but in reality, that means a week off for an interstate driver. I’ll never forget the magistrate saying “you’re very cavalier Mr Evans. The fatigue rules exist to bring you cowboys into line”. I will NEVER EVER return to do the job I dreamed of throughout my whole childhood. This industry is ruined.
Big F…… Brother. Justifying their existence.
That’s a bloody disgrace and those officers should have been fired on the spot. How dare they treat this bloke like that…one of them by the sounds at least was long overdue to get the boot up the ass… what a pair of assholes.
Tfnsw/nhvr usually will not reply. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again,.. in the eyes of the authority a truck driver is a defenceless imbecile. What’s just as bad is that they will play good cop bad cop with you. They decide and organise their role rehearsal with each other as you’re rolling down the screening lane or as they’re pulling you over. I’ve had one swearing and shaking their head at me while the other one is shaking my hand and thanking me for my time. As for penalties it’s at their absolute discretion. Yes this gent in the story may have been penalised harsher than an unlicensed drug addict with children in the car,.. and once upon a time I had RMS heavy vehicle inspectors send me on my merry way scott free after they discovered I had a chain and dog holding back the slack adjuster of a leaky brake chamber.
Nhvr is now just a revenue raising machine I have taken a fine to court where the police officer misspelt the street my name among other things and mistakes and his response in court was I am only human well that doesn’t work for us so I called bullshit told the judge as a truck driver I have never been given that leniency that I am just human and the judge through it out. My advice now days is record everything like the American people are doing because this bullshit with fines and penalties from Nhvr is clearly bullying of an industry witch under fair work laws is illegal
This action by the authorities in many cases is not justified. Like the comments no wonder the industry does not attract the more suitable types of operators that it needs to maintain a standard that’s required. But as some say transport drivers are the least respected people in the supply chain but also the most important. Without drivers the supermarkets would have empty shelves.!!! Watch the masses complain then. These heavy handed authorities need to get some respect and work with drivers not against the industry.
I know drivers playing around with the log books, you need to be spot on it is a game that they the gov is losing so manual log book really Suck because you can make mistake and mistake will be taken as deliberate, digital log book is much much better, I love it since we got the update, it idiot proof and feel like reducing the errors that genuine drivers made . And yes manual log book give doggy driver lots of opportunities. Fatigue is the real killer for professionals heavy vehicles drivers but also for the public. It is a lot of responsibility.
I’ll stay in the west. We get left alone to our jobs, I got no idea why you blokes put up with the you do.
Walk away and park them up for a week and lets see how these government wa.kers handle that
I got fined $700 for forgetting a signature at the bottom of the page in my logbook. He went back 2 months into the book before he found I missed it. Simple but costly error. Thats why I came west…. So much easier. If NHVR ever come to WA, I’m done trucking.
I have left the industry, as you invest 500k+ and sometimes struggle to pull a wage. The numbers have always struggled to work but now you would have to have rocks in your head to continue.
Getting a viable rate and getting paid then all the on road risks make it up viable.
If you sat at home in your pyjamis and played the stock market with the same capital you would be way ahead. A huge reckoning isn’t far away.
Yep, that’s why I’m driving trains now (actual trains, not road trains lol). Got pulled over at West Wyalong in 2019, and all my entries were ahead of the cameras for that day by 1 hour. Turned out I had started the book at say 5am but actually hit the road at 6am. I drove for say 5 hours and put a line 5 hours from the start, and continued though the day. Scalies (and later the prosecutor in court) admitted there was absolutely no fatigue rules broken. Court attendance notice given, I gave up the court day without pay to attend, but in reality, that means a week off for an interstate driver. I’ll never forget the magistrate saying “you’re very cavalier Mr Evans. The fatigue rules exist to bring you cowboys into line. $1600 plus court costs” I will NEVER EVER return to do the job I dreamed of throughout my whole childhood. This industry is ruined.
This sort of thing is why I gave the game away. No wonder younger people don’t want to do the job. All the recent back-patting and self-praising, for all the so-called ‘improvements’ brought about by the NHVR, is just so much bull-shit. There’s an old saying: “The more things change; the more they stay the same”.