EXHORBITANT log book fines for minor infringements are turning truck drivers off the road transport industry, a Border driver claimed yesterday.
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“Just for ticking the wrong box, you can hand over your house payment for the week, how would you feel?” Maurice Rapsey, of Wodonga, said.
“It’s ridiculous — it’s very easy to rack up $500 worth of fines in a few days for what are very minor oversights — it puts pressure on families, taking home news like that.”
Mr Rapsey spoke out this week in reaction to the Australian Trucking Association’s plans to bring in foreign workers to fill truck driving positions.
“If they (large trucking companies) can afford to pay imported workers’ Medicare levy, their accommodation and schooling for their children, why aren’t they offering the same conditions for Australian drivers?” he asked.
“If they did, more drivers would want to stay in the industry.”
Mr Rapsey, who works for Milthorpe Transport, at Corowa, said the federal log book system was one of the reasons why drivers were turning away from the industry.
“In some states, a minor infringement can cost you $300; if you get a couple of those there goes your pay for the week,” he said.
“No other industry has that kind of impost.”
A Border Express driver, who did not want to be named, agreed and said although he supported the log book system, he thought it was wrong driver fatigue in the non-commercial sector wasn’t managed.
“It’s pretty silly that as a professional driver I can only drive for five hours before I have a half-hour break when Joe Bloggs can work a 10-hour day, pile the family in the car, put a caravan on the back and drive non-stop to Queensland,” he said.
Transport operator and committee member for the Australian Road Train Association, Kel Baxter, of Berrigan, said log book infringements came down to the attitude of the driver.
“Unfortunately, some drivers have a very negative attitude to law enforcement and that sentiment is sometimes reciprocated — they’re human too,” he said.
As a transport operator, Mr Baxter said he found his rate of driver turnover acceptable but said due to the drought his demand for drivers would fall.
“We try to give them drivers the best conditions we can,” he said.
