SARTA says operators lost customers because they couldn’t get permits to move freight.
The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator’s (NHVR) inability to process permit applications last month had a significant effect on transport operators in South Australia, the State’s peak trucking group says.
South Australian Road Transport Association (SARTA) President Sharon Middleton says many operators lost customers while others sold trucks due to the NHVR’s permit failures.
“Rigs that haven’t been able to move because they haven’t been able to get permits, they haven’t been able to get stickers, they’ve lost customers and they had to sack staff and sell trucks – I’ve had operators ring and tell me all those things,” Middleton says.
Beattie Transport’s General Projects Manager Syd Redfern says it’s taken the heavy haulage operator 28 days to receive a permit. He was critical of the NHVR’s call centre in Brisbane, saying they had little understanding of issues raised.
“Once you get through you’d talk to people who have no idea what you’re talking about -we sometimes had urgent questions and couldn’t get an answer and had to wait,” Redfern says.
NHVR General Operations Manager Angus Draheim says the regulator did not anticipate the number of calls that would come through when the regulator began.
“Funding is always an issue across the board and in terms of responses we got it wrong anticipating the volume,” he says.
“However, how long it takes to pick up time from call is less than 12 seconds these days.”