Archive, Industry News

ATA calls on industry to review vehicle and driver security

Mass fatalities in Berlin prompts warning to check on company vulnerability

 

Amid worldwide shock at the Berlin Christmas market truck incident, the nation’s peak trucking body has urged the industry managers to be vigilant and review examine closely security structures.

According to the latest media reports, at least 12 people died and 48 were injured when a truck drove into crowds in the German capital.

The Australian Trucking Association (ATA) has urged trucking operators to review security for their vehicles and staff following what appears to be a terrorist attack this morning.

“Australia is not immune from terrorism. If you are in the industry and see something that doesn’t add up, contact the National Security Hotline on 1800 123 400,” the ATA says.

“Our thoughts go out to the Berlin victims and their loved ones.”

German news reports say a Polish trucking company owner’s cousin, who had been the truck’s driver, had become uncontactable, while other reports indicate a man arrested at the scene may been an asylum seeker from Pakistan or Afghanistan.

It was also reported that GPS tracking showed the semi-trailer, which had been carrying steel, had been stationary for two hours in a northern Berlin suburb after contact had been lost with the assigned driver.

Thoughts have turned to July’s Bastille Day atrocity in Nice, where a heavy rigid truck was used to kill 86 people, highlighting the vulnerability of crowds to trucks used as weapons and the possibility of some kind of copycat incident here.

Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull says the Australian government “utterly condemns the attack in Berlin overnight”.

“We are very attentive to events internationally to ensure that we learn from them and make sure that we put measures in place to anticipate similar occurrences here,” Turnbull he adds.

He had been in consultations with the foreign minister, justice minister, the head of ASIO, the AFP Commissioner and the Office of the Counter-Terrorism Coordinator since news of the attack surfaced.

Previous ArticleNext Article
Send this to a friend